Finance shortfall 'hurting farm sales'

A shortage of funds for borrowing is hurting farm sales, says the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

Institute national councillor and rural spokesperson Peter McDonald said there had been plenty of inquiries for good properties.

"The only limiting factor is the availability of finance," McDonald said.

Farmers had no problems with budgets but a shortage of borrowing funds was having an impact on certain kinds of sales, he said.

"We're seeing a lot more offers made conditional on finance and that's not possible in an auction situation where funds need to be immediately available."

The median sale price for farms in the three months to October was $1.5 million, compared with $1.3 million in the same period last year and $930,000 in 2006. The number of farms sold in the period was 390, compared with 582 last year and 470 in 2006.

To read the full NZ Herald article click here

By Owen Hembry

Posted: 18 Nov 2008

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