General News
18 March, 2019
Water pushes up rural prices
Go back 20 years and you could buy five acres of land north of Camperdown for the same price as one acre of land to the south. These days, things have evened out a lot more with vacant land to the north and south almost the same price, acre for...
GO back 20 years and you could buy five acres of land north of Camperdown for the same price as one acre of land to the south.
These days, things have evened out a lot more with vacant land to the north and south almost the same price, acre for acre.
Elders Real Estate real estate manager for Camperdown and Mortlake Rob Rickard said times had changed and water was at the centre of everything.
“Rainfall, and the weather in general, in Australia continues to be a major issue,” he said.
“Fortunately, south west Victoria relies on what comes out of the sky and isn’t dependent on irrigation water like the north of Victoria and other parts of Australia.
“As a result, land prices are faring very well – buyer interest is a lot stronger; it’s at a level we haven’t seen for a good number of years.”
Mr Rickard said grain, sheep meat and wool were commoditites that were all demanding higher prices in the current economic climate.
Combined with improvements to yields, the higher commodity prices have resulted in a demand for land to the north of Camperdown at levels “not seen in years”.
“As a result, interest is coming from far and wide, particularly northern Victoria, central and lower New South Wales and South Australia,” Mr Rickard said.
“We’re getting a lot of enquiries out of the Riverina – anywhere where irrigation water is a big component of farming.
“A lot are looking to relocate, but on a smaller scale initially, because they may have sold water allocations in their region to give them money to buy down here. Currently the land component in northern Victoria is difficult to sell.
“The south west is somewhere to put their feeding stock and a good opportunity to buy country down here.”
He said the trend for stronger land prices across the south west had largely occurred over the last two years and remained strong.
There has also been a noticeable move from big corporations driving the market for larger properties to Australian families, such was the case with Terrinallum, Milangil and Condah Hills.
The strong returns for sheep and beef in the current climate have also seen local farmers to the north of Camperdown eyeing off extra land to the south.
“A lot of cropping farmers who still retain an interest in livestock have been buying many of the dairy farms and outpaddocks south of the Princes Highway to finish off their stock in the higher rainfall belt,” Mr Rickard said.
“Sheep and beef farmers are buying country to run in conjunction with their existing operations to finish their stock year in, year out.”
The trend is good news for dairy farmers to the south who are seeing a slow but steady increase in land prices.
“Dairy farmers who have been wanting to get out for some time are now finding there is a reasonably strong demand for those assets,” Mr Rickard said.
“If you do everything right, there is a buyer out there for your property, providing people know it’s for sale.
“At the same time, if you’re looking to stay in farming going forward, then south west Victoria is a great spot to be.
“It’s as good as there is anywhere in Australia.”
Mr Rickard said the south west’s reliable rainfall meant it consistently gets a season of some description, where other areas can suffer complete season failures.