The State Of Rural Real Estate in 2019

2018 was LandGuys’ strongest year to-date. We showed a 78% increase in sales, opened markets in 2 more states, added brokers to our team in Iowa and Wisconsin, named as one of ‘America’s Best Brokerages’ by The Land Report, and in general established many relationships that will continue for years to come.

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We have a great group of brokers who really know their markets and are very educated on the current conditions as well as the processes behind getting a property to the market all the way through to the closing and beyond. They know what buyers are looking for and can help sellers prepare their properties.

What buyers and sellers can expect continuing into 2019.

2019 is starting stronger than last year. The desire for farms and recreation property is still high the states we are licensed in. A shortage of inventory makes for a strong market for Sellers. But at the same time, with the easy access to information on the internet, Buyers are very educated and more discerning, as they have a very good feel of the market themselves. This is what makes initial pricing so crucial, and as I was saying before, our brokers are very knowledgeable with market conditions and what is/was a driving force on previous realized sales.

Interest rates came back down a little. But that isn’t the only driver of our strong Buyer interest. Confidence is a factor. Buyers are still showing a strong interest in purchasing. That can be contributed to multiple things from seeing an increase in record book bucks to decent income streams from row-crop and CRP incomes.

The buyer interest really ranges across all types and sizes – from small starter hunting/get-away tracts to home-sites to larger parcels for hunting/fishing with a future investment potential to pure ROI properties, where investors just want to be diversified with their existing portfolio and have started adding land to that.

Hunting, Recreation and Lakefront properties are still strong and we continue to see that moving forward. There may be a little wait-and-see on farmland prices but the demand is still there. There are buyers with cash on hand waiting to come into the market but with the current commodities, input costs and trade out-look, they are being conservative.

If you have any questions about timing for buying or selling, give your local LandGuys broker a call. They will be able to fill you in on current market conditions and assist you in making decisions that are right for you.

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