2019 West Central Illinois Land Values Up, First Time in Four Years

April 8, 2020

It goes without saying that we are currently living through a very unique moment in history. With so much in a state of flux, I find it therapeutic to talk about something other than COVID-19. So, let’s talk land values, shall we?!

For years, I have been tasked with helping accumulate land sales results from other land brokers and appraisers throughout West Central Illinois as part of the Illinois Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers’ Farmland Values and Lease Trends report. The report is produced each March and offers data and analysis regarding the previous year’s land market and makes predictions for the current year. The West Central Region includes Macoupin, Greene, Jersey, Montgomery, Morgan, Scott, Calhoun, Sangamon, Cass and Menard counties. The report is more complex than this quick summary article can adequately do justice. If ever you’d like to learn more details, give me a shout.

What I can tell you within a short word-count is that there were some positive results in the West Central Illinois region in 2019. For the first time since 2014, all classifications of land either held firm or showed slight increases. While the jump in values wasn’t huge. and perhaps was only stagnant in certain distinct geographical areas, it ends a four-year-run of slight declines.

One interesting outcome of 2019 is that the overall number of transactions in our area was down significantly. This likely played a role in prices remaining firm, as the supply of available farms was limited. We also continued to see “Class A” acreage lead the way and farms with a high percentage of income-producing acreage remains in strong demand. Recreational land took a nice step upward; this type of land can often correlate to discretionary income and outside influences like the stock market.

Of course, the elephant in the room is how the economic disruption caused by COVID-19 might impact land values moving forward. The quick and honest answer is that no one knows just yet. Before the outbreak, we were experiencing some continued strength in the market in the early stages of 2020. Specifically at Worrell Land Services, we had a very active winter both with traditional land listings and public auctions, with more transactions in January and February 2020 than in those months in 2019.

I am a “glass half full” kind of guy and I remain cautiously optimistic that, not only we as a society will pull through, but also that owning land in West Central Illinois will continue to be a great investment for 2020 and the years to come, even if values do soften as a result of this pandemic.

Written by Luke Worrell – Managing Broker, Accredited Land Consultant, Accredited Farm Manager