According to the newest Sandhills Global market reports, asking and auction values for used farm equipment in Sandhills marketplaces are continuing a downward trend. However, auction values are declining at a faster rate, driving an increasing gap between auction and asking values, especially among used combines, planting equipment, and 100-plus-horsepower tractors.

“The spread between asking and auction values has grown significantly over the past few months,” says TractorHouse Manager Ryan Dolezal. “While dealers have begun to cut prices, this spread exceeds historical values. Dealers should monitor these trends closely as we expect a large influx of equipment ahead of this year’s harvest season.”

This value spread is also occurring in Sandhills’ used construction equipment marketplaces such as MachineryTrader.com. “Heavy equipment inventory is still accumulating on dealers’ lots,” says Director of North American Construction Stephanie Olberding. “This is causing equipment value depreciation to accelerate further.”

The key metric used in all of Sandhills’ market reports is the Sandhills Equipment Value Index (EVI). Buyers and sellers can use the information in the Sandhills EVI to monitor equipment markets and maximize returns on acquisition, liquidation, and related business decisions. The Sandhills EVI data include equipment available in auction and retail markets and model-year equipment actively in use. EVI spread measures the percentage of asking values over auction values.