June Equipment Market Trends: What’s Stabilizing, What’s Slipping?
6/27/2025As we enter the heart of summer, equipment dealers are facing a complex landscape marked by inventory imbalances and evolving buyer behaviors. In our recent Used Equipment Best Practices webinar, Andy Campbell, Director of Insights at Tractor Zoom, walks through current market dynamics and what’s changing, especially for high-risk categories like combines, row crop tractors, sprayers, and planters.
Here’s what you need to know about this market trends update, plus a quick teaser on the second half of the webinar, which features practical dealer strategies for moving used equipment faster.
The market bottom: Have we hit it?
When asked in a live poll when the used equipment market would hit bottom, most dealers indicated it’s either happening now or expected by the end of 2026. Campbell notes that the bottom likely varies by equipment category: Some may have already stabilized, while others are still in decline.
Class 8 combines: Older models are softening
Supply for Class 8 combines is down slightly YoY, but demand remains the bigger concern. Tractor Zoom’s auction data shows a noticeable divide between newer (2022–2023) and older (pre-2021) models. While newer units are still holding close to trend-line value, older models are selling below expected benchmarks – particularly those with over 1,000 hours.
To Benet Snyder, used equipment manager at Van Wall, this bifurcation suggests that buyers are more selective and cautious. “If we don’t get some tailwinds – higher grain prices, better economic signals – we’ll likely see auctions remain on par with 2024 levels.”
Row crop tractors: Model-specific volatility
Supply for large row crop tractors (300–424 HP) is up 11% YoY. Auction prices are down around 15%, but individual model trends vary:
- 8R 370s: Prices dropped sharply in Q1 2025 as supply ballooned.
- 8R 410s: Less supply, smaller price drops—holding stronger value.
- 8RX 410s: These units saw auction price increases in Q1, buoyed by limited supply and specific demand.
This trend reinforces a key insight: buyers want exactly what they want. Slight mismatches in specs can make higher-end equipment significantly harder to move, even if priced aggressively.
4WD tractors: Rising supply, falling prices
The supply of 4WD tractors is up 31% YoY, now one of the most concerning categories on dealers’ minds. Auction values are softening across the board, with minimal downward movement in dealer list prices—pointing to rising inventory pressure.
As Ben Freidhof, used equipment manager at Ziegler Ag, noted, “These tractors are the big, dumb horses in the shed"--as long as they’re working, farmers are holding onto them. With fewer incentives to trade, especially amid flat commodity prices, the high-horsepower segment may remain sluggish for the foreseeable future.
Sprayers: Flat supply, but inventory is aging fast
While overall sprayer supply is flat compared to last year, Tractor Zoom’s data reveals a significant shift: a larger share of inventory is now aging past 180 days on dealer lots. This silent risk isn’t always obvious from high-level metrics but is visible in category-specific turns and list prices, both of which are trending down.
According to Snyder, many dealers sold through their newer or more desirable sprayers quickly, leaving older and less equipped units lingering in the yard. These are harder to sell in a cautious buyer environment.
Planters: The long tail of farm income
Andy presents an overlay of net farm income trends with planter inventory by model year. Predictably, planter orders spike about a year after strong farm income, but the recent fall-off in income suggests a multi-year lull in new planter sales may be ahead.
“We may be looking at four to five years before we see normalcy return to this category,” said Freidhof, echoing the need for a long view on planter inventory planning.
Bonus content: Dealer strategies to move used equipment
While this articles focuses on market trends content in this webinar, the second half of the webinar delivers highly actionable strategies from Freidhof and Snyder on:
- Setting and adjusting retail prices in volatile markets
- Managing trade-in accuracy and consistency
- Moving aging inventory using location transfers, condition-based assessments, and data-driven repricing
- The role of centralized vs. decentralized equipment valuation processes
Read a high-level summary of what our dealer panel discussed, or register to watch the on-demand webinar recording right now.