Local buyers supporting NSW rural volumes: HTW

The rural year is really off and running and the level of transactional volumes for the past 12 months has certainly cemented the trend that started to emerge in late 2014, say valuation firm Herron Todd White. 

Across all states and territories, this activity had appeared to be home to the corporate market, however, we have seen local buyers in most regions enter the market place. These local buyers are supporting the volumes and within some areas giving an uplift in values, say HTW.

NEW ENGLAND/NORTH WEST/NORTHERN TABLELANDS NSW

Over the past six months there has been a significant increase in demand for larger aggregations in the New England, North West and Northern Tablelands area. We have seen an increase in buyers looking for well-developed properties in the $5 million to $15 million price bracket with an emphasis on cattle production.

The higher rainfall areas south of Walcha and the Ben Lomond and Glen Innes region have seen recent sales from the mid $5 million to $11 million with purchasers being a mix of local buyers looking to expand to out-of-town buyers looking for country with more reliable rainfall and higher carrying capacities. The sales, excluding buildings, show rates of between $6,000 and $8,000 per cow area.

In addition to the local and out of town buyers there has been an uplift in corporate and foreign investment across all three regions. As reported in the AFR in March, the recent sale of Cooplacurripa Station to Rifa Salutary plus two additional purchases of Kerriki and Number One, within five kilometres of Cooplacurripa, show the increased demand for cattle properties from overseas interests. 

Another sale to Chinese interests was Kyabra Station, 70 kilometres north of Tamworth which was sold for $11 million with an estimated carrying capacity of 25,000 dry sheep equivalent (DSE).