Gympie farmers feel sting of land value rise, slumping market

Primary producers say they have been left with a “pain in the gut” from soaring land valuations, rising rates, and slowing livestock markets.

Gympie primary producers like John Cotter (left) and Warren Smith say the latest round of land valuations, which have the toal value of the egion’s primary production land up by 49.1 per cent, poses more financial worries for those in the industry with livestock prices now dropping and other cost of living rises.

Primary producers are urging governments not to use the latest jump in land valuations as a cash grab amid concerns, with one landowner from the Gympie region stressing farmers do not have bottomless pockets.

The total value of primary production land across the Gympie region - one of the popular tree change destinations during the pandemic - increased 49.1 per cent in the new valuations issued by the state government in the past week.

The value of that land in the Gympie region jumped from $770.9 million in October 2021 to $1.149 billion in October 2022.

A Department of Resources spokeswoman said the decision to revalue areas was “based on factors including a property market survey, the timing of the last valuation and consultation with local governments and industry”.

“Severe weather events, including flooding, were also a consideration in the decision to revalue the Gympie LGA,” she said.

Other sources have said previously low interest rates, high commodity prices particularly for livestock, and low land values compared to other locations were key factors too.

Gympie LNP MP Tony Perrett raised concerns that the latest land valuations were “overcooked” and should have been delayed a year.

Tandur landowner Warren Smith agreed there should have been a year’s break between valuations instead of six months.

Land values for Mr Smith’s 12ha property have rocketed in the past few years, jumping from $200,000 to $300,000 in the past 12 months, and rising 300 per cent in the past six years.

His council rates had increased 50 per cent in the past year, he said.

A real estate agent by trade, Mr Smith said he had first-hand knowledge that property values had not risen as much as these new figures implied.

“If anything they’ve tapered off,” he said.

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The financial pain was now being compounded by a dropping livestock market.

The Australian beef market has dropped by about 40 per cent, with the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator, which tracks young cattle prices, now sitting about 700c/kg.

This was down from 2022 highs of 1191c/kg in January and 1130c/kg in June.

The end result of these financial changes spelled frustration.

Cattle prices in Australia have dropped about 40 per cent since their 2022 peaks, adding to concerns about the impact of new rocketing land valuations for primary producers. PICTURE: ZOE PHILLIPS

“All they’ve managed to do is create a big pain in the gut for everybody,” Mr Smith said.

“I don’t know where governments think money comes from.

“My arms can’t reach down that deep, and we don’t have endless pockets.”

Gympie District Beef Liaison Group president Jim Viner said the decision to undertake these latest land valuations was “ridiculous”.

This now meant they had been done in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

“It shouldn’t have been done,” Mr Viner said.

The big problem was the potential impact of the valuations on council rates.

Mr Viner said his had been going up about 10 per cent annually in each of the past few years, and he was now paying about $12,000 a year.

“They can’t keep putting them up on primary producers,” he said.

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Kinbombi’s John Cotter said the council needed to understand these latest rises “were not an excuse for them to have a windfall”.

“They did it two elections ago,” Mr Cotter said.

Primary producers Jim Viner and John Cotter hoped Gympie council would consider the ongoing financial hurdles facing those in the industry when it came rate time following a 49.1 per cent jump in total land value in the latest valuations.

He said there had been some large property sales in Gympie’s western reaches which no doubt influenced land values, but there needed to remain “relativity” between the values of places around Goomeri and Kilkivan compared to those in the Mary Valley.

The run of good prices on land and cattle in recent years did not mean primary producers were now ahead, either.

Primary producers were also dealing with the ever-rising costs of necessities like fuel, like other business owners across the country.

“We’ve had a couple of good years, but we’ve also had about 15-18 awful ones,” Mr Cotter said.