Farming future brightens as sales boom

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 4

Farming future brightens as sales boom

PA Wellington The president of Federated Farmers, Mr Brian Chamberlin, has welcomed a farm sales boom over the last six months as an indication that the industry’s future is getting brighter.

Valuation New Zealand issued statistics at the week-end showing almost $460 million had changed hands for 2028 farms during the first six months of 1989, the highest total sales figure for five years. That compares with $306 million for the 1532 farms in the last six months of 1988.

Fifty per cent more money changed hands and one third more farms were sold. Most of the increase in farm sales was to existing farmers.

The number of business people buying farms, 246, is one up on the previous six month period. Over all, Valuation New Zealand’s farmland price

index, the measure of price movement for farms sold, was 6.5 per cent higher than for the second half of 1988. The index is based on government valuations and gives a clearer indication of the increase than average sales prices. The valuer-general, Mr Hamish McDonald, said more of the larger, betterquality units had been changing hands recently.

Mr Chamberlain said that the big increase in the number of farms sold was caused by farmers taking advantage of improved land prices. Farmers were buying their neighbours’ properties to amalgamate with their own, rationalising their operations, he said. This reflected an improvement in the land prices encouraging farmers to sell and demonstrated the situation for farming was improving, said Mr Chamberlin.