Farm sales are up compared to the three months leading up to Covid-19, according to data released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

The data, released on April 23, shows there have been 113 more farm sales for the three months ended March 2021 than for the same period last year, which is an increase of 40.8 per cent.

Ten of the 13 regions recorded an increase in the number of farm sales for the three months ended March 2021 compared to the three months ended March 2020, with the most notable being Waikato, which increased by 37 sales.

Horticulture farm sales rose by 98.8 per cent.

'Sales figures for the three month period ending March 2021 reflect solid activity within the rural sector,” says REINZ rural spokesperson Brian Peacocke.

'Horticulture and forestry were the exceptions with horticulture maintaining par and forestry recovering from a previous decline.”