SALES OF FARMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22769, 1 July 1937, Page 16

SALES OF FARMS

WAIKATO BUSINESS.

SLOWER THAN LAST YEAR

HIGHER DEPOSITS WANTED

[FIIOM OUR OWN 1 COKUKSI'ONDF.NT]

HAMILTON, Wednesday

Inquiries mndo in Hamilton to-day show that farm properties are slow of sale compared with last year. Agents record decreases in sales of as much as 10 per cont. Government mortgage legislation lias had a retarding effect on farm transactions, as vendors, fearing that when they have agreed td sell the Government would step in and reduce tho value of the property, are asking for much higher deposits than buyers are able to give. The average buyer offers £SOO or £BOO, only to find that a deposit of £2OOO is asked for. Dairy and sheep farms are affected in this way.

Tho demand for farms lies more in tho direction of dairy farms of between 50 and 100 acres, the general desire being to avoid a property which demands too much labour to work it. Quite a number of these small farms have been sold recently. Sheep farms are much harder to sell, for with the high prices for wool and fat lambs farmers are unwilling to part with a profitable farm except at a high price. A high deposit is generally asked for. One land agent stated that the mortgage adjustment commissions had been very lenient, but if tho farmer was'not assisted to stay in possession, lie would drift to tho ranks of the unemployed and would no doubt become a recipient of sustenance. Tho high price of stock was another factor which deterred farmers from making any changes at present, for the costs of taking over a new place tvero much higher than a few years ago, or even a year ago.

Tho only farms he knew of that were changing hands, added tho agent, were those purchased by southern farmers, who had been impressed with what they had seen of Waikato conditions. Several sales to prominent men from the South had been effected lately, the deposits in most cases being high. An agent who specialises in town properties said that houses and unoccupied sections were selling freely. Owing to the general housing shortage great difficulty was being experienced by tenants whose homes had been sold in finding other places in which to live.