FARM LAND VALUES IN IOWA. 



During the last decade the percentage increase, as well as the 

 dollars per acre increase, was larger than that for any other decade 

 in the history of the State. During the past year the increase in 

 dollars per acre was greater than during the 50-year period from 1850 

 to 1900. From 1915 to 1920, the smallest increase in the price of land 

 was in the year before the United States entered the World War, and 

 the largest increase was the year following the signing of the armistice. 



AVERAGE PRICES FOR 60 COUNTIES, 1918 TO 1919, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



PERIOD OF THE "BOOM." i 



Table III. — Average price of improved farm land per acre and percentages of increase in 

 60 Iowa counties, 1918 to 1919. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Average 



price 

 per acre. 



Increase over esti- 

 mate of March, 1918. 



Per acre. Per cent 



Estimated average value per acre March, 1918, of 1370 farms 



subsequently sold in 1919 



Sales of farms, January to March inclusive, 1919 



Sales of farms: 



April, 1910 



May, 1919 



June, 1919 



July, 1919 



August 1919 



September, 1919 



All sales: 



Januarv to September, 1919 



June to September, 1919 



1,370 

 127 



120 

 244 

 382 

 367 

 158 

 16 



237 



240 

 238 

 247 

 255 

 259 

 276 



S43 



46 

 44 

 53 

 61 

 65 

 82 



22.2 



23.7 

 22.7 

 27.3 

 31.5 

 33.5 

 42.3 



1,414 

 923 



24S 

 253 



27.8 

 30.4 



In order to determine the extent of change in land values in the 

 region studied it was considered necessary to have an estimate of the 

 value of farm lands on March 1, 1918, a date about one year before 

 the general public became aware of the increased activity in sales of 

 land and the marked increase of land values. 



The result of 1,370 estimates of the values of individual farms in 

 the 60 counties indicates an average value of $194 per acre on March 

 1, 1918. This figure is $20 higher than the estimate by the Bureau 

 of Crop Estimates for the State as a whole. Previous statistics for 

 1915 indicated that the average value of farm land in the 60 counties 

 studied is about $11 per acre higher than the average for the entire 

 State. The remaining difference of $9 between the two estimates is 

 attributable to the fact that the farms which changed hands most fre- 

 quently in the region studied during the period of the recent activity 

 were above the general average in quality for the region as a whole. 2 



i Throughout this bulletin the word "boom" is employed as a convenient expression to designate a 

 period of unusual activity in the buying and selling of land accompanied by a considerable amount of 

 speculation. 



2 A number of checks have been available, as follows: (o) The unpublished figures of the Bureau of Crop 

 Estimates, quoted above; (b) results of investigations in 55 counties of the executive board of the State of 

 Iowa for the period from January 1, 1918, to May 1, 1919, based on sales; (c) estimates prepared by Mr. T. A. 

 Polleys, tax commissioner of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, based on executors', administrators', 

 and referees' sales, and inheritance tax appraisals in 19 counties; (d) results of a questionnaire sent by 

 Senator II. S. Van Alstine to bankers in all the counties of the State; (e ) estimates by 222 bankers and real 

 estate men obtained by the field agents of the Office of Farm Management; (/) estimates on 238 farms for 

 which data on net rentals were obtained by field investigators of the Office of Farm Management; and (g) 

 estimates obtained in farm management surveys of over 400 farms in selected districts. 



