The ever-rising price of new farm equipment pulls up on the value of good condition used machinery — a truth I’ve seen at work over the 34 years I’ve been compiling prices.
But the effect of this in the market is quickening, and high horsepower tractors are a perfect example.
In 2008, we saw the first tractor at auction sell for over $200,000. It was a 2008 John Deere 9430 with two hours that sold for $215,000. Just four years later, the first tractor auction price over $300,000 (sale price: $315,000) happened in Elrose, Saskatchewan for a John Deere 9630T with 97 hours.
It then took eight more years to crack the $400,000 sale price mark at an auction. During the summer of 2020, a 2018 John Deere 9620RX with 623 hours sold in Morris, Ill for $407,000.
Then wham bam, the $500,000+ mark (sale price $538,000) was hit merely one year later in December 2021 for a 2019 John Deere 9620RX with 452 hours at a Charleston, Ill., sale.
But it didn’t slow down in 2022 when the same model with 550 hours hit $600,000 at a Carthage, Ill., sale.
This is a breakneck pace. The table shows 11 tractors I’ve seen sell for over $500,000 at auction in 2023 (through November).
Five of them were sold by the Steffes Group, including the top-of-the-heap tractor: a 2022 John Deere 9RX 640 with 520 hours that went for $661,000 on August 28 in Williston, N.D.
New vs. Used Relationship
Robert “Bob” Steffes had his first auction in 1960. Bob passed away Thanksgiving Day 2023 at the age of 86. I always greatly enjoyed my opportunities to visit with Bob. If we were having a cup of coffee now, talking about these prices, I know what Bob would say. “What’s a new one cost Pete?”
New ones cost a fortune, which continues to pull up on the value of good, used ones.
