While land values likely haven't improved any in the last month, Ron Stock, co-owner and CEO at Stock Realty & Auction Co., reports that with many farmers in the middle of harvest, there aren't enough sales to demonstrate this. "There's not a lot of land on the market. That's keeping the prices from just plummeting," Stock says. "However, there are more farms coming to the market slowly but steadily every week."

SLOW BUT STEADY: Although land prices likely haven't improved, with farmers in Nebraska in the middle of harvest, Ron Stock notes there aren't enough sales to demonstrate land prices are declining.

Last month, Stock reported that the land market in Nebraska was shifting from a seller's market to a buyer's market. "I think if the market's shifting from a seller's market to a buyer's market, it's shifting very slowly," he adds. It's happening slowly thanks in part to the slight uptick in corn and soybean prices recently, which when paired with slightly above-average corn and soybean yields in parts of the state, has taken away some of the negativity on the farm economy.

"When the market transitions over to a buyer's market, that means there will be more land on the market for sale; the buyers will have more choices; and land prices will be lower than they were a year ago," Stock says. "Whether commodity prices will support slightly lower land prices remains to be seen."

Of course, if a landowner is planning to sell a piece of property, it's still better to sell sooner than later. "That's still the case. If you're thinking about selling your farm, it's obvious when corn hit $8 a bushel, that was the best time to sell your farm," Stock says. "That run-up on land prices was due to a run-up on the corn price. If corn is going to settle on $3.50 or even $4 a bushel, land prices have got to correct."

LOW INVENTORY: "There's not a lot of land on the market. That's keeping the prices from just plummeting," says Ron Stock, co-owner and CEO at Stock Realty

In addition, land is also taking longer to sell than it was a year ago. "A farm put on the market today at 10% less than last year's prices is selling in 30 to 60 days. A farm that's put on the market at yesterday's prices either isn't selling or is taking a lot longer to sell," says Stock. "We're selling land, but it's priced lower than a year ago. The grower who's selling the land is telling us, 'I'm not going to get what I could have got last year?' We're not coming to them with bad news; they understand it. I think it's safe to say the bubble has officially burst."

Ron Stock contributed to this report. He is a licensed real estate broker and has been in business with his brother, Mark, for 32 years. He is licensed in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri. He can be reached at 402-649-3705.