Investing in farmland may have brought some of the best returns anywhere.
Farm Credit Canada has just updated its land value assessment showing that in 2023, Saskatchewan farmland values rose faster than anywhere else in the country. With an increase of nearly 16 per cent last year, that is not only the best performance in the country, it is the strongest growth in Saskatchewan farmland prices in a decade.
When added to the previous year, prices have risen 30 per cent since the beginning of 2022 and doubled in the last 10 years.
The value of agricultural land is rising everywhere but nowhere in Canada is it going up as quickly as here. The national average increase last year was just over 11 per cent compared to almost 16 points here. Land values saw double digit increases from Saskatchewan to Quebec but BC was the lone outlier posting an actual decline of three per cent.
Clearly, land buyers in this province are taking the long view with an optimistic eye. The 30 per cent jump over two years comes despite high interest rates and challenging drought conditions.
