PRICE FORMATION IN FARM LAND MARKETS

Four models of price formation, incorporating search and bargaining concepts, were specified for an Australian farm land market. The models were estimated using primary data obtained from land buyers. A sequential, four-equation model of buyer/seller behavior was selected as conceptually superior. Substantively, final prices were closer to buyers' bid prices than sellers' offer prices; buyers valued soil conservation and proximity to town more highly, and property productivity and size less highly, than the sellers; and market information had a positive influence on price. In this area, education may be preferable to subsidies for achieving soil conservation.