21 Jun 2010

Farm prices and sales still low - Real Estate Institute

6:29 am on 21 June 2010

The Real Estate Institute says the prices being paid for farms and the number of recent sales doesn't reflect the bright future being painted for farming.

The institute's president, Peter McDonald, says it's market report for the three months to May shows 319 farms were sold, 31 more than during the same period last year but only 43% of the sales in 2008.

The national median price, at just over a $1,000,000, was more than $800,000 down on two years ago.

He says it's been a frustrating and challenging time for most agents, with good properties listed and a lot of interest from buyers, but few sales.

Mr McDonald says Canterbury and Waikato topped the sale figures with 41 sales each, followed by the Bay of Plenty with 34.

He says the 11 dairy farms sales was a disappointingly low number.