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December 2,1999
Aglandvaluesincreasein county12 to 15 percentincrease reportedBy TONY ZIEBOL Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- Despite the troubled farm economy, the year 2000 will see a rise in agricultural land values. The increase will be more in some areas than others; however, overall, tillable land values will be 12-15 percent higher than a year ago, according to a report given by Brown County Assessor Judy Friesen to the county commissioners Wednesday, Sales are up as well. Friesen said it's been "a number of years" since she's seen as many sales of agricultural land as this past year. Between Oct. 1, 1998 and Sept. 30, 1999, 25 sales of more than 35 acres were filed in Brown County. These sales include 17 of the bare land variety and eight of improved land. Land values are up because farmers are setting their own prices for selling their land, Friesen said. "That's what people are paying," she said. "People have an idea what they want for their land. Regardless of the land, if they can get what they will sell; if they can't, they will hold onto it." The sales and prices even surprised Friesen. "We had a lot of sales at the beginning of the year, and I thought it would go down," she said. "It just didn't." Chairman of the Brown County Commissioners Andrew Lochner agreed. "It kind of amazes me to see these land values go up," he said. Non-tillable land wasn't the only real estate to go up in value. Values rose for agricultural building sites, whether they were rated excellent or poor. In the year 2000, building sites rated excellent will be worth $17,000 an acre, up $2,000 from 1999. Building sites rated good or average also will have their value increase by $2,000. Acres of residential sites for land rated excellent, good and average will all be up at least $5,000 from 1999. An residential site with an excellent rating will go from $30,000 to $40,000. In other types of land, the values didn't change, including livestock sites, pasture land, timber land and waste land. Friesen will now send a report to the state, which will do a county-wide study.
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