Middle Tennessee Real Estate News

Tennessee farm acreage up to record values
Nashville Business Journal, August 12, 2008
Tennessee cropland and pasture values rose to record levels in 2007 to $3,600 and $4,100 per acre, respectively, the highest since records began in 1997.
According to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, all Tennessee farm land and building values rose 7 percent in 2007 to an average of $3,650 per acre, up $250 per acre from 2006.
Tennessee's cropland cash rent this year is $65 per acre, compared with $67 per acre in 2007. Pasture cash rent in the state increased to $22 per acre, up $2 from 2007.
Farm real estate values in the U.S. averaged an 8.8 percent rise in 2007 to a $2,350 per acre high, up $190 more than a year earlier.
Both cropland and pasture values for 2008 are record highs nationally. Cropland values rose by 10 percent to $2,970 per acre, up from the previous high of $2,690 in 2007. Pasture value rose by 6 percent to $1,230 per acre.
Strong commodity prices and farm programs, outside investments, favorable interest rates, and tax incentives continue to be the factors that drive farm real estate values to record levels. Livestock prices, recreational use, and urban development remain the predominant influences that increase pasture land values.
The highest farm real estate values remained in the Northeast region, where development pressure continued to push the average value to $5,080 per acre. The Northern Plains region had the lowest farm real estate value, at $1,110 per acre, up 15.5 percent from the previous year. In the Corn Belt region, cropland values rose 14.8 percent, to $4,260 per acre.
The Southern Plains region increased 12 percent from the previous year, to $1,490 per acre. The Northern Plains region also had the highest average percentage increase in pasture value, 19.7 percent above 2007. In the Southern Plains and Mountain regions, which account for more than half of the pasture in the U.S., pasture values per acre increased 17.1 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.