DEMAND FOR FARMS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 227, 23 August 1940, Page 6

DEMAND FOR FARMS.

CASH PURCHASES. • POSITION IN MANAWATU. As with other districts in New Zealand, there is a keen demand for farms in tho Manawatu and surrounding areas, and the prices being asked by vendors are definitely in their favour by comparison with. land sales in recent years, it is stated by those in touch with the subject. In many cases cash is proffered, amounts of £4OOO and £SOOO not being rare, the buyer offering sufficient to take the property on a freehold basis. At the present time the demand for farms is in excess of the supply. Farms of the smaller type, carrying up to 40 cows or 500 to 800 sheep on easy sheep country, are generally sought. In the main, the enquiries are for cleared land which requires little development and little further fencing, there being a very limited demand for rough, unbroken country. In some parts of New Zealand even as high as £IOO an acre has been paid in cash but the general purchase price in this and in other districts is not as high as this. Of the purchasers, it is stated, a large proportion are business or professional men who are seeking an investment which they anticipate will give them an assured income of at least as much they would secure from commercial enterprises. On the other hand, farmers who are prospective buyers are in many cases desirous of reducing the size of their holdings to enable greater ease of operations under labour difficulties.