Farm ponds can increase property values—but there are caveats. On average, land with a pond will sell for between 5% and 15% more than land without a pond. However, this doesn’t mean that one can just dig a pond and forget it! There are a couple of factors to consider. First is that the higher the property’s acreage, the less value a pond adds overall. On a 1,000-acre property, for example, a one-acre pond may add very little to the total cost, while on a 50-acre property, that same pond might add a large share to the property’s sell price.
The second factor is pond maintenance. A well-maintained pond that is clean, with a healthy ecosystem, and easy to use for it’s intended purposes be they agricultural or recreational, can add a lot more to the value of a property. Conversely, ponds with stagnating water, problematic algae blooms or other issues can be seen as an expense in the making, thus lowering property values.
