Used Tractor Prices Cool After Two Record Years

The used-equipment boom is losing steam. After two years of sale-barn prices that made sellers grin and buyers wince, auction results this fall point to a cooling market.

The softening is uneven. High-hour row-crop tractors and older combines are drawing fewer bids, with some lots selling well below last year's comparable sales. Low-hour machines with service records, on the other hand, are still bringing near-record money.

"Condition is the market now," said an auctioneer who has called farm sales for thirty years. "A clean tractor with paperwork sells itself. A tired one sits."

Analysts point to higher interest rates and a fresh supply of trade-ins from dealers as the main pressure. For buyers who waited out the peak, the window may be opening.