The Land Group

By: Nick Campanaro

The Land Group closed 22 poultry farms in 2022 totaling 115 individual chicken houses and 3.4 million square feet. Our involvement in this market prompted us to do a detailed analysis over the last two years (2021 & 2022). We analyzed 38 sales in which we either participated or had firsthand knowledge of the transaction. We believe this analysis paints a realistic picture of the poultry real estate market today.

The goal of our analysis was to use comparable sales data to calculate the price per square foot values for chicken farms in Maryland, Delaware, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We broke each sale down into three poultry house age classes: Newer Farms: Built between 2015 – Present, Middle Age Farms: Built between 2000 – 2014, and Older Farms: Built-in 1990s or before. We then calculated per-square-foot values for each chicken house on each farm while also accounting for excess improvement values (for example, residential homes worth over $200,000) and excess land values. It is important to note that poultry farm transactions are complicated and often involve seller credits for farm updates and various personal property items. This analysis is meant to be a rough snapshot of the market and does not account for updates costs, seller credits, or personal property conveyed.

Here is a summary from the analysis:

The market for existing poultry farms has been extraordinary over the last two years. Several contributing factors include low-interest rates, large amounts of liquidity in the market, and increased demand from buyers looking to escape city life. However, as interest rates have climbed over the last 6 months, deals have been tougher to close. Cash flows are tight, and some buyers are struggling to obtain financing. Our hopes are that these interest rate hikes are short-lived, and we return to a healthy middle ground.

Data used in this analysis is based on firsthand market knowledge of individual transactions as well as information provided by MLS data and appraisers.