New Record: Iowa Farm Joins the $26,000 Per Acre Club
Record Sale 101222
Farmland is still going for record amounts. Just look at this recent sale in Iowa. In Plymouth County, Iowa, a new record was set to the tune of $26,250 per acre.
The farmland included 55 acres of high-quality farmland, according to Brock Auction Company, which managed the sale. That means the total bill was $1.44 million.
The tracts included 53.8 cropland acres with a 27.11-acre corn base with a 176 bu. PLC Yield index and a 25.74-acre soybean base with a 53 bu. PLC Yield index. The Plymouth County assessor and NRCS office show the main soil types to be Galva with some Primghar and Colo. The farm carries a CSR II weighted average of 91.7 with almost 80% of the farm at 95 CSR II.
The bidding started at $17,000 per acre and three bidders topped $25,000 per acre, according to Jim Rothermich of Iowa Appraisal. A local farmer had the winning bid.
“The sale price has no influence from development or wind energy,” Rothermich says.
This sale now holds record for a highest price. It tops the sale from August, when a Sioux County, Iowa, farm sold for $26,000 per acre.
You may remember a noteworthy sale also from Plymouth County this past summer. On May 27, a farm sold for $25,000 per acre.
Iowa Farmland Price Trends
The value of high-quality cropland in Iowa is $14,472 per acre, according to the September semi-annual survey conducted by the Iowa Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute. That’s up nearly 17% from September 2021.
Depending on the region, that average for high-quality land ranges from $12,200 per acre in the southwest to $16,810 per acre in the northwest.
While land values appear to be leveling off, the Iowa Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute expects to see larger price swings from one sale to the next for similar quality farms in late 2022.
Steady Farmland Index
The Rural Mainstreet Index’s farmland price index for September climbed to 61.1 from August’s 60, marking the 24th straight month that the index has moved above growth neutral. It started out the year above 2021 readings but fell below starting in July.
Five farmland sales auctions between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2 yielded sales of greater than $20,000 per acre in Iowa counties of Ida, Dubuque and Sioux, Rothermich reports.
