麻豆传媒AV

The auction hall was standing room only Thursday, Dec. 12 for Kramer Auction Ltd.'s fourth annual land auction.

A total of 32 quarters of land were sold by auction and 37 were leased by auction. All were Saskatchewan properties, located in 14 different municipalities, offered by 14 consignors.

The prices were diverse, as were the properties. Sale prices for farmland ranged from $58,000 per quarter to the exceptional price of $680,000 for the first quarter sold that day. The day's sales reflected a price of $791 to $2,091 per cultivated acre.

While 10 consignors were selling, there were also four consignors looking to lease their land. The lease prices ranged from $39 to $82.50 per acre for land for cultivation and from $10 to $19 per acre for pasture.

Although the crowd of about 400 came from as far as British Columbia, most of the land went to farmers from the same area as the offered properties, says Kim Kramer, grandson of the auction company's founder, the late Eiling Kramer.

"Some properties brought more than what some people anticipated and some brought less," says Kramer, adding that's to be expected when dealing with that amount of land. There was a diverse selection on offer, and a diverse crowd bidding for them, he pointed out.

Kramer Auction was founded in 1949, and they've been selling land by auction for years, says Kramer. He remembers his grandfather auctioning real estate. In recent years, it has become the preferred way by many to buy and sell.

With the way farming's changed, especially over the last three years, it's become difficult for sellers to determine what price to put on land for sale or lease, says Kramer.

"So you put it up for auction and let them [the buyers] determine the value," he says. "Auction is probably the truest measurement of today's market value."

The auction process is transparent and fair to everyone in the marketplace, Kramer said in his preamble to the crowd gathered for the auction at the Big Bid Barn just outside of North Battleford. It can also eliminate long or stressful negotiations, and give everyone a chance to buy or lease, he said; the true value of the property is established by what a bidder is willing to pay in an open competitive environment.

In addition to farmland, Kramer also auctions other types of real estate - from recreational properties to residential and commercial properties. Four years ago, they formed a real estate brokerage, Kramer Auction - Real Estate Division, in order to offer a more complete service to clients, who can then choose an auction format or a traditional listing.