Farm land value drops 10 percent

By: 
Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor

Bucking a four-year trend in which Calhoun County farm lands gained value, the county’s crop land value dropped 10.4 percent, according to the annual Iowa State Outreach and Extension Office’s Land Value Survey.

Based on reports by licensed real estate brokers and people selected for their knowledge of land market conditions, the survey has been issued since the 1940s. This year’s report valued Calhoun County land at $9,730 per acre, down from $10,856 last year.

Several factors played a role in the declining values statewide, ISU officials said in a press release last week. One factor was low commodity prices, followed by higher input prices and uncertainties about the ag industry.

A few things worked in buyers’ favor, brokers and other survey respondents said.

“The most frequently mentioned (positive) factor was low interest rates,

mentioned by 62 percent of the respondents,” a survey summary said. “Land availability was the second most frequently mentioned positive factor, being mentioned by 28 percent of the respondents. Other frequently mentioned positive factors included, cash/credit availability, good yields, and good livestock returns.

Land values in Calhoun County had increased 198 percent between 2009 and 2013, from $5,481 per acre to $10,856. Going back a decade, even with this year’s decline, land is still worth 294 percent more than it was in 2004.

For more information about the survey, read the Dec. 24 edition of The Graphic-Advocate. 

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