Land sales in the NETAR region continued an upswing last month. Here’s what the February numbers look like:

–         151 sales – one more than in January and 45 more than February last year.

–         312 new listings – an increase of 72 from January and 44 more last year.

–         The forward-looking indicator – new pending sales – shows sellers accepted 211 new contract offers. That’s seven more than January and 64 more than last year.

–         The active inventory was 2,281, down from 3,160 last year.

Although cropland is not a major component in the local listings, what’s happening there parallels the rest of the market. “If nothing unexpected happens to challenge the current land market, prices will continue to firm up in 2021,” according to Randy Dickhut, Farmers National Co., in a Pro Farmer report. The report says the average price of high-quality Tennessee cropland so far this year is $4,000 an acre – up from $3,600 last year.

Most of February’s new local listings are in the $30,000 and below price range. There are 64 listings in the $100,000 to $500,000 range and 29 for $1 million-plus. The top listing is in Bristol for $9.7 million.