Land prices

[ado089]

Who cares if young farmers can afford land? Land has gone up 10x in value in the last 30 years it's good for me, beside that the indians, hutterites, speculators and developers have lots of money.

[furrowtickler]

Think about what you just said ado, without a balance of willing famers and too much dirt to cover land values will go down at some point, no? Short memory - remember the 80's? Land here was going for $120,000, within a few short years you could buy all you wanted for $75,000. There is always a tipping point and yes gradually land prices will go up, but spikes in anything are always followed by corrections. Look at oil - no end to price increase right, we were going to $200 - economy stumbles and we are at $70. Land values at the end of the day can only be supported by the value of net return for that land in that specific area. I think we were talking farm land not urban development - that's a totaly different story. IMO there will be a correction soon, no different than grain/oilseed prices. Some investors including first nations will not get the returns they need unless grai/oilseed prices go up by 50% short term and stay there. When interest rates go up and they always do at some point, the money will flow else where. JMO.

[bucket]

Just had a guy tell me to buy land and zerotill it and the returns will come. I told him I have been zerotilling for a decade and I am not willing to pay a premium for the privilege of making the current owner happy with an overappraised quarter of land.

[Hopperbin]

Ya Ado your a bit funny, I can remember 5 years back when the land lords and retiring farmers here were lucky just to have a renter, now good open drained land sells for 100 a quarter.
Oh and you need to check your calculation 30 years ago was 1979, if you got land that increased 10 times in that period congradulations you are one in a million.

[Choice2U]

In Saskatchewan, you can obtain access to land sales $ through the Farmland Security Board. I think it costs about $8 for a basic search of an area. Based on legal land description, you can find out what land sold for but one has to realize that acreages, quarters adjacent to owned land, buildings, etc. all have an affect on the numbers so you have to look at this information knowing the land. The information is also about 3 - 6 months behind.

[ado089]

I keep forgetting we're at the end of the decade and not the middle and 10X is a slight exageration. I was born in the 80's so it all makes no difference to me except that I'm a young farmer who had dreams of being a millionaire, I just didn't expect there to be a minus sing infront of it. Since the first round of treaty settlement money 10-15 years ago, land has been over $750/ac in our area and a section I have my eye on now is listed at $840,000. Land has bounced around alot inbetween but never really got much lower. Many of my neighbors sold their land during that time to entities that will never sell it again, it's gone forever. I have never seen a shortage of people willing to take on land in productive areas and I don't see that changing. Not that I can complain without being a hipocrit but high realestate prices aren't good for agriculture, they're good for leaving agriculture. I just find it funny how the same guy that complains about the price of land a few year later will sell it to some speculation group, reserve or colony for a $20/ac premium insteat of giving the young guy across the road a crack at it and keeping it in the community.