The runup in farmland prices in 2022 led many to wonder, “is now the time to sell?” Some are still wondering that today.
“We’re still seeing a few record highs in certain counties,” says Rick Johnloz, an area representative with Halderman Real Estate Services, talking about current farmland price conditions in Indiana. “I think it’s backed off just a tick possibly in some areas, but we’re still seeing very strong prices due to high demand and low supply in the farmland sector.”
Johnloz continues, saying, “If you still have a good all-tillable farm that’s square and very desirable to farm, I’m going to say it still brings top dollar and it’s probably going to be close to an all-time record high for the area. If you’ve got something that’s a little more of a challenging farm, say it’s got an open ditch through it or some more woods on it, or things like that, I think things like that have backed off a little bit maybe by 15%, maybe even 20%, off of the highs right now.”
There’s been a lot of talk lately about foreign investment in American farmland, even prompting a bill to be introduced at the Indiana Statehouse preventing the sale of land to our adversaries, like China. Johnloz says they’re just not seeing that as an issue at their land auctions. Most of the time, it’s a local landowner, maybe even the adjoining landowner, that wants to buy up the land because it’s simply a good investment.
“It’s been a good investment for years and years and the people that buy farm ground know that and understand that, and you still see them in the market. That’s where they want to park their money.”
You can find auction/property listings at halderman.com.
