Land Auction Sales Up 130% the Past Six Months Along with Prices

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Apr 19, 2022, 08:00 ET

OMAHA, Neb. , April 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The increased land sales and auction activity that Farmers National Company saw during the last quarter of 2021 continued throughout the first quarter of 2022. Not only was there more land sold during the past six months than during a similar time in the previous four years, but prices also continued a strong upward trend the whole time.

"If a seller wants to get the best sale price for their land in this quickly up-trending period, some type of competitive bidding or auction is the best way to find out what the market is willing to pay at any given time," said Linda Brier, area real estate sales manager for Farmers National Company.

Auction land sales increased during the past six months compared to recent years. For Farmers National Company, the number of auctions held increased 65 percent over last year. The number of acres sold via auction was up 106 percent and the dollar value of auction sales were up 130 percent. The number of auction sales for the past six months was almost equivalent to what Farmers National Company experienced for an entire year during the slower land sales period of the last few years.

Not only were the number of land auctions up the past six months, sales prices increased dramatically into spring planting time.

"A recent auction held by Farmers National Company of prime farmland in central Illinois brought $21,500 and $20,500 per acre respectively for 80-acre tracts. Comparably, another recent auction in Champaign County brought $19,700 per acre for 78 acres. One of our auctions in western Indiana had six tracts each sell for $16,600 per acre," Brier said.

Other states and regions also experienced much stronger prices even from just the first of the year.

The busy period of land sales during the fall and winter months has ended, but auctions are still being held through April and early summer, albeit at a much slower pace which is the normal pattern. Time will tell if the higher prices will prompt more landowners -- mainly estates, trusts, recent inheritors, and some family groups -- to sell in the coming months. Also, time will determine if the factors supporting land prices will continue for the foreseeable future.

Farmers National Company, an employee-owned company, is the nation's leading agricultural landowner services company. Farmers National Company manages more than 5,000 farms and ranches in 29 states comprising more than 2 million acres. Over the last five years, Farmers National Company has sold 3,938 properties (1,404 at auction) and more than $5.02 billion of real estate during the last 10 years. Additional services provided by the company include auctions, appraisals and valuation services, insurance, consultation, oil and gas management, a national hunting lease program, forest resource management, and FNC Ag Stock. For more information on our company and the services provided, visit www.FarmersNational.com.

SOURCE Farmers National Company