by admin April 5th, 2023
Canadian farmland values continued steady climb in 2022
According to the FCC Farmland Values Report 2022, the average value of cultivated Canadian farmland increased by 12.8% in 2022. This is the highest increase recorded since 2014 and follows consecutive gains of 8.3% in 2021 and 5.4% in 2020.
Increases in Farmland Values differed widely by individual Canadian province. According to the FCC Historic Farmland Values Report 2022, price increases for land were highest in Ontario with 19.4% followed by the Eastern provinces of Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) with 18.7% and New Brunswick with 17.1%.
Canadian agriculture faced many challenges in 2022 such as Bank of Canada’s increases of its overnight rate from 0.25% at the start of 2022 to 4.25% by the end of the year. Further headwinds were due to inputs such as fertilizers that, according to the World Bank, have risen nearly 30% since the start of 2022, following a surge of an astounding 80% in 2021. Soaring prices were driven by a confluence of factors, including surging input costs, supply disruptions caused by sanctions (Belarus and Russia), and export restrictions (China).
Strong farm income, robust demand for farmland and continuous limited supply of farmland available for sale could mitigate the negative factors, leading to the farmland value increases described above.
Development of land prices in Ontario
The overall rate of increase of land prices in Ontario slowed down from 22% in 2021 to 19% in 2022, while average prices across Canada had started to increase only since 2020.
Source: FCC Farmland Values Report 2022
We at FIAN manage a large number of farmlands in Ontario, with most of them located in South-West Ontario. The trends in the South-West Ontario region saw another spectacular price increase of 23% in 2022, in line with the same price increase in 2021.
Price/acre (1 acre = 0.4 ha) in 2022 increased to C$ 28,900 compared with C$ 23,500 in 2021.
Source: FCC Historic Farmland Values Report 2022
Interested in investing in Canadian farmland or forests? Please contact Hermann Miehe at fian@miehe.ca, or simply give us a call at +1-450-246-2150. Looking forward to hearing from you!