Land value increases in South Australia's rural pockets: HTW
Recent rural property sales in South Australia have shown a 20 percent to 30 percent land value increases in the past 12 months in areas around Robe, Penola and Naracoorte according to Herron Todd White.
HTW said the rural market in south-east regional Australia and more particularly western Victoria and south-east South Australia continues to outperform many other investment markets in recent months with capital growth in most sectors and regions continuing to provide strong evidence of growth.
"The past twelve months has seen significant focus on the south-west of Victoria from the corporates and the media which has helped to fuel interest in the area and in turn resulted in record land prices and limited available supply of land left in the market," HTW said.
"The story is similar across the border in South Australia with recent sales displaying 20% to 30% increases in land values in the past 12 months in some areas, especially around Robe, Penola and Naracoorte.
"A recent move of savvy investors away from these traditional regions of focus and toward other now more affordable regions in comparison is starting to emerge.
"A great example of this is RIFA’s recent purchase of a circa 4,500 hectare holding near Wycheproof in the north-eastern Wimmera region of Victoria.
"The purchase, although at a premium price for the area at circa $9 million, resulted in a lower cost of production for the purchaser in comparison to buying a similar scale asset in the western districts.
"Outside of the more traditional cropping and grazing sectors, the increase in interest in viticulture and horticulture assets is continuing with local growers looking to expand and corporate buyers seeking investments with higher returns than traditional cropping and grazing assets.
"Irrigation water and areas available for future development continue to play an important part in the investment criteria for most buyers."
The property at 659 Cadell Rd Western Flat, Darringa, South Australia, features an improved grazing property with 2 centre pivots between Naracoorte and Bordertown. it features 2837 acres of well fenced, well pastured and well watered land.