Land sales above average; Dexter farm recently sold for $2.08 million
Published 6:01 pm Saturday, March 14, 2015
How much is the average acre of tillable farmland worth in Mower County?
A 224-acre Dexter Township farm sold for $2.08 million Thursday in an auction at the Austin Holiday Inn Conference Center, and the $9,285 price tag per tillable acre came in a bit above average for Mower County ag sales.
A Mower County sales study, which will be used for 2015 property assessments payable in 2016, showed the average sales price for tillable ag land in Mower County is $8,100, according to Assessor Joy Kanne. That was based on 32 Mower County sales from October 2013 through September 2014. The sales ranged from as low as $4,000 per acre to as high as $11,000 per acre.
Mower’s 2014 average was down from $8,600 in 2013. In that same year, the state average was $5,071 and the south-central Minnesota average was $8,204, according the Pioneer Press.
Champaign, Illinois-based Murray Wise Associates conducted Thursday’s auction, which drew a full house that included investors and local farmers. Three tracts were sold on the land, which is located northwest of the 625th Street and 630th Avenue intersection. A farmer purchased one tract, and the other two were purchased by investors — one from Oregon and another from Arizona.
“That runs counter to what a lot of people might have expected,” MWA’s John Kirkpatrick said in a release. “Farmers have been buying most land offered at auction lately, and conventional wisdom has been that this trend would continue.”
MWA officials described the Dexter area properties was strong farmland with good soils and tiling. Company CEO Murray Wise said during a presentation last week that higher quality land is holding its value better in the current market.
“The Minnesota auction definitely supports my assertion that we have a tiered market right now, with much more stability – and in some cases even some price increases — in the better land,” he said.
Kanne, though she wasn’t directly involved in the auction, described it as a healthy sale.
“That’s a pretty good sale for what we’ve been seeing,” Kanne said.
