The rural property market in the Bay of Plenty is relatively stable with the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand showing farm prices are up and sales near even.

The median price for a farm is up to $875,000 for the three month period ending December. This is an increase of $55,000 from the November period when the median sale price was $820,000.

It is down, however, on a year-on-year basis with the median sale price for farms in the Bay of Plenty in the December 2009 period being $997,500.

Sale numbers are steady on both a monthly and annual basis, with 25 farms sold in this last December period, against 24 in both the November 2010 period and the December 2009 period.

Of the 25 farms sold in the region, 18 were horticulture, four were forestry and three were dairy.

On a national scale, it was the sale of 30 dairy farms that provided some stimulus to the rural property market in the December 2010 period.

'The 30 dairy farms sold in December is a huge boost for the rural sector and has brought about a significant improvement in the market,” says REINZ rural market spokesman Peter McDonald.

'It marks a return to confidence in dairying which is more than justified by the positive returns being achieved.”

From $968,500 at the end of November 2010, the national median farm sale price rose to $1,150,000 for the three months to December 2010.

This is a 15 per cent increase on the median of $1m for the last three months of 2009, but still below the median of $1,525,000 for the equivalent period in 2008.

For the lifestyle property market in the Bay of Plenty, the median sale price dropped slightly in the December 2010 period with it down to $480,000 from $486,500 in the November period. It is also further down from the December 2009 period when the median sale price was $535,000. There were 97 lifestyle blocks sold in the Bay of Plenty in the December 2010 period.