Farmland Values And Credit Conditions

Climbing 20 percent in the third quarter of 2022 from a year ago, agricultural land values for the Seventh Federal Reserve District maintained their upward momentum. In addition, values for “good” farmland in the District overall were 4 percent higher in the third quarter of 2022 than in the second quarter, according to the 160 bankers who responded to the October 1 survey. While just over two-thirds of the survey respondents anticipated the District’s farmland values to be stable during the fourth quarter of 2022, 25 percent anticipated District farmland values to go up again in the final quarter of this year and 7 percent anticipated them to go down. On balance, the District’s agricultural credit conditions were better in the third quarter of 2022 than a year earlier, despite average interest rates on agricultural loans rising sharply. Repayment rates for non-real-estate farm loans were higher relative to the same quarter of the previous year for the eighth consecutive quarter. Additionally, renewals and extensions of such loans were lower than a year ago. In the third quarter of this year, demand for non-real-estate farm loans was down relative to a year ago for the ninth quarter in a row. Notably, the availability of funds for lending by agricultural banks was lower than in the third quarter of 2021. The average loan-to-deposit ratio for the District edged up to 68.2 percent in the third quarter of 2022.