Optimism is back in farmland !!!!

COLUMBIA CITY, IN--(Marketwire - December 11, 2009) - The December 9 auction of 506 acres southwest of Frankfort, Ind., drew a capacity crowd of bidders, resulting in the sale of the land for $3,345,000, according to Rex Schrader, president of Schrader Real Estate and Auction Company.
"The optimism is back in the market, especially for higher quality land. The results of this sale confirm what we have seen over the last 90 days in other sales of high-quality land," said Schrader after the sale, which included 486 acres of prime Indiana farmland, bringing prices ranging as high as $7,000 per acre. "Land in the top one-third in terms of quality is up a good 10 percent during this quarter, and we are seeing new records for land prices in many counties," he said.
The 506 acres sold to a combination of five different buyers:
-- Three acres with buildings for $140,000;
-- 217 acres for $1,410,000 ($6,498 per acre);
-- 118 acres for $800,000 ($6,780 per acre);
-- 138 acres for $785,000 ($5,588 per acre); and
-- 30 acres for $210,000 ($7,000 per acre).

The auction was packed with buyers, several bidding on all the land and many buyers bidding on various combinations of tracts and single tracts. "We had lots of interest from investors from at least six different states. The bidding action between the investors and the farmers was very competitive, with farmers ultimately buying most of the land," said sale manager Bill Haworth.
Having sold farmland throughout the United States -- including more than 3,000 acres in the past 15 months in the Clinton County, Ind., area alone -- Schrader said "the evidence of the uptrend in the market for good crop land today is very clear."
Schrader Real Estate and Auction Company, based in Columbia City, Ind., is one of the nation's largest auctioneers of agricultural land. The company's auction calendar and results are available at www.schraderauction.com. Other Schrader releases.
For more information:
Rex Schrader800-451-2709
Carl Carter205-823-3273

Strong Land Auctions Reported

Strong Land Auctions Reported
by "Your Precious Land" Mike Walsten
Here's an item I ran in the current issue of LandOwner that talks about some of the surprising strong sales seen in the land market recently. That item starts below. Meanwhile, here is a press release from Schrader Real Estate & Auction Company, Inc., Columbia City, Ind., that highlights a recent strong auction near Frankfort, Indiana.
This is the story that ran in the December 10 issue of LandOwner:
Strong Sales Seen At Recent Midwest Auctions
Dynamic. Strong — for better quality ground. Variable. Surprising. Yes — because after following the constant negative downbeat of the financial and farm media, you’re surprised when you hear a east-Central Illinois farm sold for $7,800 an acre in less than 30 minutes. These are our impressions after spending several days following recent auctions from Indiana to eastern Colorado. Here are some examples:
•$7,500 an acre in Knox County near Galesburg in western Illinois.
•$7,675 in northwest Iowa.
•$5,000 to $6,000 at several sales in Indiana.
•$8,700 near Bushnell in western Illinois.
•$3,800 in Atchinson County, Missouri.
•$5,770 in southwest Iowa.
•$5,000 in south central Minnesota.
•$2,900, irrigated land in western Nebraska.
•$2,400 in central South Dakota.
•$5,990 in Renville County, Minnesota.
•$1,820, combination irrigated and dryland cropland in northwestern Colorado.
•$7,600 and $7,800, Coles County, Illinois.
•$3,740 in Sedgwick County in central Kansas.
•$4,590 in Brown County, Minnesota.
•$5,850 to $6,800 for several sales in Hamilton, Hancock and Humboldt counties in Iowa.
•$7,500 to $7,600, Hancock County, Illinois.
•$5,100, irrigated, Reno County, Kansas.
•$4,600-$5,800, Redwood County, Minnesota.
•$5,100-$8,100 in Holt County, Missouri.
•$6,025 in Madison County, Iowa.
We know not all sales have been this strong. There have been several “no sales” at auctions, too. In those cases, the common denominator is lower quality soils and a low percentage of tillable acres versus gross acres.