The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-12-03
Trends
Farm Real Estate
Market Appears
Looking Up.
= BY VINCENT s. LYONS
Times Financial Editor

THE real estate market, at least
Il in the agricultural sections Of
the country. appears to be looking
up. if the report Of the Federal
Land Bank Of Louisville can be
accepted as a criterion. Distinct
evidence Of this is had in the fact
that a greater volume Of sales has
taken place this year at prices
which average somewhat above
year ago.
From July / through to Nov. 10
this year the Federal Land Bank
disposed of 165 farms and, in addi-
ton. seven parcels Of land, con-
sisting of portions of farm units.
for s629,O29. From July TO Nov.
30. last year, a slightly longer pc
Rod. the institution sold forty
properties for S195.0l4.
Moreover, the real estate sold
thus far this year yielded from $40
to SIS an acre higher than a year
ago. No special type Of farm pre-
dominates among those sold, the
report discloses; they represent an
average cross section Of the farms
possessed by the Federal Land
Bank of Louisville as TO type.
adaptability and probable use. The
acreages represented in the tran
sactions ranged from 40 TO 400
and the purchase price varied from
$500 to $4,000.
MORE Indiana properties were
wi sold in the period than those
of any other state in the land
banks territory. OF the 165 farms
which were put on the block "a
we're in the Hoosier state; 50 IN
Kentucky. AZ in Tennessee and 7 IN
Ohio. OF the forty sold in the APP
proximately corresponding period
of last year 10 were in Indiana, 10
IN Kentucky. 10 in Tennessee, and
z in Ohio.
while the bulk of the buyers at
this time are farmers" the report
saws, there is a significant interest
in farm lands on the part OF IN
vestors, which is contributing to
the pickup in inquiries and sales.
Both farmers and investors appar-
emily have decided that the current
rising price level for farm products
and the conservative price level for
farm lands constitute a combina-
ton of which they should avail
themselves without further wait
ing"
This survey, added to the state
ment several weeks ago of William
I. Myers, governor of the Farm
Credit Administration, that farm
real estate values of the country
as a whole in the first nine months
of the current year had increased
20 per cent over a year ago, indl-
Gates the great betterment which
has taken place in the agricultural
situation in the last year or more.
n
THERE was a time a few years
Il ago when many people enter
tanned the view that the farm real
estate situation was in state of
chaos and that it would be years
and years before improvement
would begin to make itself felt.
This peSsimism was engendered
because farmers, confronted with
the problem of meeting indebted
ness at a period when prices of
farm foods were low, witnessed
their properties thrown on the
market, as a result of foreclosure
proceedings, and sold to the high
est bidder.
With the availability of farm
lands increasing by leaps and
bounds as a result of continued
foreclosures, the value of farm
properties deprecated sharply.
Each forced sale put the aggregate
worth of such land deeper into the
mire. About this time the Govern
ment attempted to arrest the trend
by formulating policies of relief.
The latest set of figures would
seem to indicate that AdminiStra-
ton movements, which brought
about higher quotations for long
list of farm products and the birth
of the Fra1er-Lemke Act, have
been highly productive. The spectre
of indebtedness at present does not
hang as ominously over the head