Farmland Sales Slow, How Can You Sell Your Land?

The farmland market appears to be slowing as the calendar gets closer to the end of the year.  Tim Cobb, with the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in Spokane, WA said up to this point things have held strong.

“We've seen steady - at least at the beginning of the year - to a bit higher volume of sales opportunities. However, the latter half of this year has been a bit mixed. Things are starting to slow a little bit, due to what I would feel mostly to the retreat of external interest. We've just seen a bit of a protraction and a bit of a slowing in the volume of it. Many of the farms that had transacted this year have either sold directly to an operator or the operator has been involved, the actual farmer being the main buyer of many of the farms that we've taken care of in 2024 thus far.”

Cobb added farmland is sitting available on the market for much longer periods of time. 

“Things are taking a little bit longer. They're taking a little bit longer to get sold and eventually, they do get sold. However, it is taking longer than it used to, even 12 to 24 months ago, which is indicative of just the amount of buyers that we are not seeing in the market right now from an institutional perspective. We work with buyers and sellers, lots of different kinds and we're seeing less and less interest as other investments are having some bigger returns at this point.”

So, what can you do to increase your odds of selling your land in this soft market?  Cobb said the most important thing you can do as an owner is to have all of the details ready for potential buyers.  He added it’s also important to understand the market.

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