Buyers have the opportunity to snap up one of eight varied and exciting rural properties going under the hammer in October as part of Ray White Rural SA’s spring auction bonanza.
Potential sellers have been watching the growth in farming land values in SA over the past two to three years and see the opportunity now to capitalise on this increase in land values.
Ray White Rural SA Director, Geoff Schell, said some of the higher rainfall areas and more reliable cropping areas had seen capital growth of up to 20 to 30 per cent in the last two years.
“Many of the properties coming on to the market are from those exiting agriculture because they don’t have the next generation coming home to the family farm,” Mr Schell said.
“They’re also coming from those who don’t have the scale of operation for business efficiency or don’t want to or are unable to increase debt levels to invest further into farm expansion.
“Most transactions in SA are with larger family-owned farming businesses looking for expansion opportunities to gain economy of scale and to better use their resources.
“In the higher value areas of the state (Yorke Peninsula, Lower North and Mid North in particular) there have been fewer opportunities to expand because supply of new property to the market has been limited.
“In these higher value, reliable areas, we often see demand exceed supply of land coming to the market.
“We’ve seen buyers prepared to move ‘out of district’ and look further afield to find more affordable land to expand their overall enterprise.
“With the continuing dry across Australia, we’re also seeing very strong inquiry from within SA and NSW and the drier areas of Victoria for the higher rainfall areas of SA. The south-east region of SA has performed very well when many other areas have struggled.
“With the continued strength of the livestock sector, a number of our clients are also looking to broaden or expand their enterprise mix into livestock.
“They’ve sought opportunities to purchase grazing properties in south-east SA and higher rainfall areas of the Mid North and there’s also good inquiry for well-developed SA pastoral properties.
“We’re also seeing investor interest in agriculture where both smaller private investors and high net worth investors see agriculture as a key investment area with solid returns and a bright future for the sector.
“Despite ongoing dry conditions for many areas of SA, many sales of agricultural and grazing land throughout SA have exceeded expectations in the last couple of years. In the reliable rainfall districts, we’ve seen demand outstripping supply.
“South-east SA has seen a resurgence in inquiry levels in the past 12 months with buyers looking for the higher rainfall and reliability of this region.
“Buyers are looking for secure grazing and fodder/hay production plus the advantages of nearness to markets and meat processing facilities.
“The cropping areas of the YP and the Lower North and Mid North have seen record prices achieved for quality farming land.
“These auctions give bidders and buyers multiple chances to purchase a property under conditions seldom offered to the market in rural SA.”
