24 Jan 2014

Jump in farm sales

9:57 pm on 24 January 2014

Farm sales for last year reached their highest level for a 12-month period since February 2009.

Figures from the Real Estate Institute show 1746 farms were sold in 2013 - up 20 percent on the previous year.

The institute does not yet know by how much prices rose between 2012 and 2013, but in the final quarter of last year they rose by nearly five percent on the same period during the previous year.

Rural spokesperson Brian Peacocke says the jump in sales is due to an increase in confidence as a result of better production, high dairy payouts and strong beef and lamb prices.

Farm values have almost recovered from their 25 to 30 percent fall in 2007 and 2008, he says.