Machinery Pete: Prices Rising Higher

There’s a freight train coming.

Wind the calendar back exactly one year to February ’21 and that was my assessment of the used farm equipment market. I could see it coming. Clear as a bell. Already heated used equipment values were going to smash higher come November and December ’21 as year end tax buyers would flood aggressively back into the market after a long absence with the freight train sped along by twin forces of a broken supply chain limiting availability of new equipment plus rapidly tightening used inventory levels on farm equipment dealer lots around North America like no one has seen before.

As much as I dislike issuing strong advisory statements, I felt I had to. So, what was my message 12 months ago?

Buy it NOW.

Whether new or used equipment you’re after, don’t wait. Get it. Now. Because the tea leaves were pointing to the aforementioned freight train. It arrived right on schedule. Packed the biggest wallop I’ve seen in my 32+ years tracking auction sale prices. Multiple new record high auction prices were literally being set daily. All through November. All through December ’21.

The freight train of rising used farm equipment values hit with such force it generated an understandable and collective response from across the ag space….When will the Other Shoe Drop? Can’t Stay This Hot. General thinking had it that the flip of the calendar to ’22 and the subtraction of the year end tax buyers would cool the used equipment market.

Nope.

I’m here to report used values have actually continued to RISE. Hard to believe but true. If you follow my daily reporting on MachineryPete.com you’ve seen the data. Late in Jan. ’21 I was asked on Twitter, “Machinery Pete, are there any soft spots in the used market now?”

For the first time in my three plus decades tracking prices my answer is….No.

As the last few days of January ’22 slid into the first few days of February I began to sense a new collective response across the ag space.

Here’s Machinery Pete on AgriTalk talking about the machinery market:

Acceptance. And pivoting into action.

Ok, this freight train is still running. Doesn’t matter that I may not like it. We have to deal with it. Ground has to get farmed in ’22 and beyond. If we can’t get new farm equipment because it’s either already sold out, or risen too high for our budget with recent (multiple) price increases, then we have to address our equipment needs in this uber hot used market because the one thing we can’t have is downtime come Spring and Fall ’22.

Which brings me around to my advice from one year ago. Still applies my friends. If you need that piece of equipment….Buy It Now.

The supply chain and the extreme tightness on used equipment lots won’t be “fixed” in the short run. It is what it is.

Used Planters: Falling Supply + Rising Demand

• Data from MachineryPete.com

3 of 4 Highest Auction Prices Ever on Planters – Recent Sales