SMALL FARMS WANTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19365, 1 July 1937, Page 5

SMALL FARMS WANTED

WAIKATO INDICATIONS HIGH DEPOSITS ASKED (Special to the Herald.) HAMILTON, this day. Inquiries made in Hamilton show that farm properties are slow of sale compared with last year. Agents record decreases in sales of as much as 10 per cent. The Government mortgage legislation has had a retarding effect on farm transactions as the vendors, fearing that when they have agreed to sell the Government would step in and reduce the value of the property, are asking for much higher deposits than the 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. The demand for farms lies more in the 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 Land Values 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 a farmer Was not assisted to stay in possession he would drift to the ranks of the unemployed and would not doubt become a recipient of sustenance. The 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 were much higher than a few years ago, or even a year ago. The only farms he knew of that were changing hir.as, added the 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.