Modest farm value loss in 2018
After a reprieve in 2017, commodity prices, interest rates and trade disruptions drove Iowa farmland values down for the fourth time in five years. The average statewide value of an acre of farmland is now estimated to be $7,264. This represents a decrease of 0.8 percent, or $62 per acre, from the 2017 estimate.
Fand values were determined by the 2018 Iowa State University Land Value Survey, which was conducted in November by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Results from the survey are consistent with results by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Realtors Land Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wendong Zhang, assistant professor and extension economist at Iowa State University, led the annual survey.
Farmland values hit a historic peak of $8,716 per acre in 2013; however, they immediately declined by 8.9 percent, 3.9 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, the following three years. Farmland owners received a small reprieve in 2017 when the statewide average increased 2.0 percent. While modest when compared to 2014, 2015 and 2016, 2018 marks the fourth time in five years that statewide average farmland values have declined. In nominal value, the statewide average for an acre of farmland has fallen 17 percent since 2013.
Results of the 2018 ISU Land Value Survey can also be found on the ISU Extension Store.