Land Market and Lease Trends in Illinois Illinois Land Values Conference March 16, 2006 Morris Illinois Results of Membership Survey on: Farmland Buyers and Sellers & Lease trends

Estate sales dominate sellers

Settle estates main reason for selling farmland

Investors remain main buyers

Buyer Attributes include that… 56% of buyers use 1031 exchange funds 62% of buyers did not need debt capital

1031 Buyers driving market

Chicago is the “Gorilla”

Price Increase Expected in ‘06

Stable Trend expected for 2007

Cash rent and custom farming have higher returns

High end returns and variability

Cash rents continue to increase

Growth seen in amount of cash rent leases

Competition leads to increases