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Source: ONE News -
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Not a single dairy farm sale was recorded in August by the Real Estate Institute.
Institute national councillor and rural spokesman Peter McDonald said the August figures were "not the best we have seen" but there was an air of optimism in the sector as interest rates stabilised, and Fonterra recorded good sales.
"With the good prices at the last two Fonterra powder auctions, raising prices by 50% over the past three months, and with Fonterra hedging against the impact of the high dollar, there's a quiet feeling of confidence returning," he said.
"We would expect to see some action by October/November, with farms coming on the market and people registering their interest with agencies."
Dairy farms were selling at the end of the past dairy season for an average national price of $44/kg of milksolids and more than $32,000/ha.
But McDonald said the rural market was as much driven by banking policy as it was by payouts.
"Banks have a strong hand to play in the rural market. I hope we will see a little more thought go into bank lending with a greater emphasis put on good budgets rather than on equity," he said.
Farmers have estimated they hold about $46 billion of debt - about 16% of the nation's borrowings.
McDonald said lifestyle blocks had performed better.
The national median price for lifestyle properties in the three months to August 2009 was $430,000, down from $450,000 in the corresponding period in 2008.
The total number of lifestyle property sales dropped to 1,342 in the three months to August, down from 1393 in the previous three months (to July).
It was up on the 1,050 lifestyle properties sold in the three months to August 2008, but markedly lower than the 1,752 sold in the same period of 2007.
The median price for farms nationwide had also dropped slightly in the three months to August, at $1 million compared with $1.2 million in the three months to July 2009, and was far below the $1.74 million in August 2008.
In terms of turnover, there were 183 farm sales nationally in the three months to August 2009, compared with 229 in the three months to July 2009 and 516 in the three months to August 2008.
The biggest number of sales were grazing properties with 99 properties changing hands in the three months to August 2009, compared with 108 in the three months to July 2009, and considerably lower than the 261 grazing farms that sold in the corresponding period in August 2008.
Regionally, the most activity in the rural real estate sector was centred on Canterbury where 27 farms sold in the three months to August 2009, and Northland where there were 24 sales in the same period.
Bay of Plenty recorded 22 sales.
