Ontario prices rose an average of 9.4 per cent in 2017, Saskatchewan by 10.2 per cent and Nova Scotia by 9.5 per cent.
Ontario’s increases were, however, from a much higher level than in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.
“Ontario’s farmland value increases continued to be fuelled by the strong demand from supply-managed farm operations and cash crop producers competing for a limited amount of available land,” the FCC report says.
Ontario farmland prices increased by 4.4 per cent in 2016 and by 30 per cent in 2012.
The increases were 24 per cent in the northcentral region of the province, 15.6 per cent in the southeastern region, 15.1 per cent in south central and 11 per cent in the northwestern region. Prices were unchanged in the north region.
J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief economist, said last year’s increases are “a sign of a stable and strong farm economy.”
The FCC has become the main mortgage lender for farmland.
Strange that the federal government has so often issued cautions about the housing price increases, but not farmland. Maybe it's because FCC doesn't lend to Toronto and Vancouver house buyers.
