By Connor Lynch
IROQUOIS — “Good land always sells for a good price, because it will
always produce.” Of course, sometimes you still have to wait for it to
sell.
The first six months of 2020 have been slow for land sales, said Iroquois farm real estate broker Marcel Smellink. The COVID-19 outbreak didn’t seem to help, though it’s unclear if it’s hurt the market.
“In my area, because corn prices are down, beef prices are down” everyone’s a little more reluctant to part with their cash, he said.
Not as many parcels were being listed he said, although that doesn’t
necessarily mean there are fewer acres for sale. “If there was a buyer, they’d be willing to talk,” but farmers aren’t going looking for buyers. Most of what has been selling has been small parcels next door, he said, rather than a big chunk of land that’s farther away.
Prices haven’t dropped so much as stabilized, he said. “Same old
story. If it’s next door, a dollar more.” Even a short drive away
can make a big difference. “I can drive 15 minutes from $20,000 an acre
land and end up in $10,000/acre land,” Smellink said.
In his experience, North Gower, with its larger farms, tends to be higher priced than, say Kemptville. “Like in houses. Location, location, location.”
According to an annual survey by University of Guelph professor Brady Deaton, land prices did actually slip in Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry, where Smellink is based. They also went down in rural Ottawa but went up or stayed the same everywhere else.
Prescott-Russell had both the highest land prices and the largest
increase in land prices last year in Eastern Ontario. More than 1,000 farmers were surveyed across the province.
Here are the Eastern Ontario county results of the 2019 land prices per acre survey, based on interviews with more than 1,000 farmers across Ontario:
Durham Region:
Price: $10,000 (Same as 2018)
Rent: $100 (Same as 2018)
Kawartha Lakes:
Price: (Not included)
Rent: (Not included)
Peterborough:
Price: $6,000 ($1,000 more than 2018)
Rent: $50 (Same as 2018)
Northumberland:
Price: $7,000 ($1,000 more than 2018)
Rent: $100 (Same as 2018)
Hastings:
Price: (Not included)
Rent: (Not included)
Prince Edward:
Price: $6,000 ($1,000 more than 2018)
Rent: $50 (Same as 2018)
Lennox & Addington:
Price: (Not included)
Rent: (Not included)
Renfrew:
Price: $5,000 ($300 more than 2018)
Rent: $50 (Same as 2018)
Frontenac:
Price: (Not included)
Rent: (Not included)
Lanark:
Price: (Not included)
Rent: (Not included)
Leeds-Grenville:
Price: $3,600 ($600 more than 2018)
Rent: $100 ($50 more than 2018)
Ottawa (Carleton):
Price: $10,000 ($1,000 less than 2018)
Rent: $150 (Same as 2018)
Prescott-Russell:
Price: $12,300 ($2,300 more than 2018)
Rent: $200 ($50 more than 2018)
Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry:
Price: $10,000 ($1,000 less than 2018)
Rent: $150 (Same as 2018)
