By Connor Lynch
LONDON — The median price of farmland in Western Ontario was nearly $13,000 an acre in 2017, almost double the median price of farmland in 2010.
That’s according to the latest report by Ryan Parker, an agricultural appraiser with London-based Valco Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants, in a series of surveys that started in 2010. Parker looked at 11 counties, including Huron, Perth, Oxford, Middlesex, Elgin, Lambton, Kent, Essex, Bruce, Grey and Wellington.
Surveying 650 land sales across the 11 counties, Oxford is king, with median land prices at over $20,000 an acre, and the most expensive land going for about $27,000 an acre. Grey County had the least expensive land with a median sale price at over $8,000. The most expensive land in Grey County was over $14,000 an acre.
Wellington County saw the largest increase in median land prices, going up by 18 per cent to over $14,000.
The counties saw a significant spike in the median price in one year by 9.67 per cent from 2016 to 2017. That’s about 60 per cent higher than the 5.88 per cent increase between 2015 and 2016. The least expensive land in Southwestern Ontario is now more expensive than the median cost of farmland back in 2010. Parker uses median price instead of average price to remove outliers.
Counties with the least expensive land prices are seeing a long-overdue upswing, particularly for counties like Grey, Wellington, and Lambton, he said.
Price increases were even stronger when Parker started the surveys in 2010. In the first year, median farmland prices went up 19 per cent, then 29 per cent in the second year and 20 per cent in the third year.
