Prices Are Dropping on High-Horsepower, Late-Model Tractors

Hard cash auction prices leave a fascinating breadcrumb trail on farm equipment values over time. Sometimes used equipment values are up, as they were from fall 2020 into 2023. Other times used values drop like we’re seeing in 2024 on high-horsepower, late-model tractors and combines.

A May 7 online auction featuring five 2023 high-horsepower tractors from a dealer with an Illinois and Missouri footprint is telling. Let’s focus on two of those tractors.

A 2023 John Deere 8RX 410 with 231 hours sold for $426,000. That’s the second-lowest auction price on that model. The only lower price came six weeks prior at a March 22 dealer auction in northeast Missouri. A 2020 model with 711 hours sold for $400,000.

Shimmy back in time with me nine months to an Aug. 8, 2023, online farm auction in Michigan we filmed for “Machinery Pete TV.” We watched a 2022 John Deere 8RX 410 with 182 hours sell for $520,642, a record-high auction price. At a Dec. 5 online dealer auction in Iowa, a 2022 model with 691 hours went for $485,750. Five months later, a one year newer tractor with a third of the hours sells for $59,750 less.

A 2023 John Deere 8R 310 with 468 hours also sold during the May 7 online dealer auction. It brought $289,000, the fifth-lowest auction price ever on that model.

For perspective, I saw six 2023 John Deere 8R 310s sell at auction from January to early May 2024:

• One sold in January (with 328 hours in Missouri) for $350,000.
• A pair sold in March for $331,000 (with 346 hours in Missouri) and $325,000 (with 232 hours in Illinois).
• Another pair sold in April for $310,000 (with 251 hours in Kansas) and $306,000 (with 520 hours in Kansas).

Combines Set the Trend
Of course, one of the big reasons hard cash prices on high-horsepower, late-model tractors have been trending down is the exact opposite of what’s been happening with the used supply on dealer lots.

The rising used inventory level trend began to emerge 18 months ago with late-model combines. In 2022, the average auction price on Case IH 8250 combines was $374,000. Last year, it was down 22.1% to $291,218. John Deere S780 combines saw an average auction price last year of $291,991, a 15.8% drop from the 2022 level of $346,900.

So far in 2024, the average auction price drop on late-model combines has been lower compared with 2023’s big decline.