The federal government’s controversial program to buy back up to 70 gigalitres of water entitlements from holders in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin has buoyed the outlook for water prices after the market suffered its first fall in over a decade.

Over the 2023-24 financial year, the estimated total value of major entitlements in the southern MDB fell $1.9 billion to $30.4 billion – a drop of 5.9 per cent – according to the latest water markets report from Aither.