The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand is reporting the number of farm sales in the Bay of Plenty is well down for the three month period ending October this year compared with the same period in 2009 and 2008.

This year there were 16 farms sold in this period, consistent with 16 farms sold in the three month period ending September, but well below the 28 farms sold in the October 2009 period and the 29 sold in the October 2008 period.

On the positive side, there was a turnaround in the median sale price in this period with it climbing to $962,500 from $790,000 in the three month period ending September 2010.

This amount, however, is still down when compared with the October 2009 and 2008 periods though when the median sale price was $1 million and $1.2 million respectively.

Of the 16 farms sold in the October 2010 period 12 were horticulture, three were grazing and one was forestry.

The lifestyle block property market is down with a median sale price of $509,500 in the Bay of Plenty for the three month period ending October. This is slightly down on the September period where the median sale price was $565,000, but it is up on the October 2009 period median sale price of $470,000. There were 80 lifestyle blocks sold in the Bay of Plenty in the three month period ending October 2010.