Otago farm sales in the three months to December reflected the national trend which delivered the highest median price of the year at $1.15 million.
However, the data also reflects the massive swing which has taken place between the tail-end of the dairying boom in late 2008 and the past two years of recessionary trading.
Several factors had boosted the December sales, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand rural market spokesman Peter McDonald said.
It included banks re-entering the market, albeit showing a strong preference for supporting substantial purchasers at the top end of the market, and sellers leaving in finance which helped make many of the transactions happen, he said.
There were fewer purchases of grazing and dairy support blocks than last year, but Mr McDonald expected buyer interest to improve as a consequence of the upswing in the market for dairy farms.
"A rush of dairy property transactions in December has helped lift the median farm sale price to the highest level of the year," he said.
The positive data for the three months to December marked a return to confidence in dairying, "which is more than justified by the positive [commodity] returns being achieved", he said.
The price per kg of milkfat solids averaged $41 in December, up $4 per kg on the November figure, but across the country prices ranged from $29 per kg up to $63 per kg, Mr McDonald said in a statement.
He highlighted a huge variance in the price paid per hectare nationally. He gave an example where two Taranaki farms were sold, one for about $58,000 per hectare and the other for less than $25,000 per hectare.
"This wide variation in prices was experienced throughout the country," he said.
Nationally the median price was up 15% from $1 million during the same period a year ago, with farm sales down slightly from 241 to 213.
Otago prices gained more than 18%, rising from $630,000 last year to $747,500 last December, but the numbers of farms sold fell from 15 a year ago to 10 for the period.
Compared with three years ago, farm sales nationally and in Otago were well down on value and volume. The national median value of farms fell 24% from $1.52 million for the three months to December, 2008 to $1.15 million last year, while Otago returned a 42% decline - from $1.30 million to $747,500.
The number of national sales fell 43% from 346 in 2008 to 213 last year, while Otago sales plummeted 73%, from 38 to just 10.
• The national median selling price for a lifestyle property in the three months to December 2010 was $445,000, down on the median of $464,000 for the last three months of 2009. There were 1089 properties sold, down on the 1359 sold a year ago.
Lifestyle property prices were highest in Auckland at $720,000, and lowest on the West Coast at $210,000.
AT A GLANCE
The "average" NZ dairy farm sold during the three months to December
• Average size of dairy farms 146ha
• Average milk solid production of 982kg/ha
• Average price per hectare $38,479 (up almost $5700 from November average)
• Highest price paid $18.2 million
AROUND OTAGO
• 10 farms sold: Two each of grazing, forestry, dairy, and finishing and one each of horticulture and special
• Median price $747,500
• 65 lifestyle blocks sold, compared with 81 the previous year
• Median price down to $430,000, from $475,000 the previous year
