This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
LANDMARK Harcourts Ballarat real estate manager, Adrian Smith, works in an area with many types of agriculture and consequently his sales provide insight into farm land values.
Adrian has managed sales campaigns that have sold potato land, broadacre cropping land, livestock properties and forestry production.
In the five years Adrian has been the Landmark Harcourts Ballarat manager the majority of his listings have been within 100 kilometres of Ballarat. https://nutrien.harcourts.net/au/office/ballarat
His listings have taken him north of Avoca, south to the Otway Ranges, east towards Bacchus Marsh and into Victoria’s Western District and beyond.
Rural Ballarat’s most valuable farm land types
By value per acre within Adrian’s sales region in 2018 the three most valuable property types are (in order) potato land, broadacre cropping land next and then cattle country.
Sales of potato growing land that Adrian has managed has varied between $6000 and $7000 an acre.
To achieve the higher value land must have the fertile basalt volcanic soils and access to irrigation. These characteristics are evident in Newlyn, as well as Dean and nearby Blampied.
His broadacre property sales over 2018 have varied between the high $3000 per acre price range to just over $4000 an acre.
Farming land that falls within this price range are in areas around the Western District towns of Skipton, Streatham, Lake Bolac and Willaura.
Higher broadacre values are achieved when a property is almost entirely arable and in a 550mm-600mm annual average rainfall zone.
Big operators will pay a premium for the right cropping country
Another influence on broadacre land values Adrian has noticed is bigger operators keen for large areas to work will pay a premium price.
“Some of the bigger (broadacre cropping) players just want more land as they already have the technology and machinery to work it and they will pay a premium to obtain greater scale,” Adrian said.
Livestock grazing properties are far more widespread across Adrian’s sales area with suitable cattle and sheep grazing land among the mainstays of his listings.
Lighter pasture country that cannot support a high stocking rate has been sold between $1500 to $1800 an acre with the price determined by how easily pasture can be sown.
If a property is easy to sow with improved pasture Adrian said the value of cattle grazing country to fetch between $2500 to $3500 an acre. South Gippsland hungry for beef
There have been a number of forestry plantation sales Adrian has completed in the previous 4 years.
These have occurred in the Heytesbury district of south western Victoria and towards the western side of the Otway Ranges.
Adrian’s forestry property sales have been near Cooriemungle, around Curdievale, Kennedys Creek and Simpson and also towards the South Australian border.
How blue gum plantation farms are valued
Adrian has sold blue gum plantations with mature trees still standing and also sold post harvest land with stumps in.
The forestry plantation land sale prices realised have ranged between $1500 an acre up to $2300 per acre.
Variation in price depends on a few factors including the age and state of the trees, what amount of preparation was needed to remediate a property back to agriculture and what area was available to plant if another rotation of trees was going to be planted.
About 60 per cent of Adrian’s inquiries for rural properties comes from local interests with the rest from outside the greater Ballarat area.
Inquiry for rural land from locals had been steady for the previous 12 months although he noticed a drop in the number of overseas inquiries.
