Australian rural property prices record a bumper spring

Billions of dollars of farmland has changed hands during a record spring selling season. See the 40-plus biggest deals.

Tim Roberts-Thomson with his children Madeleine and James from TRT Pastoral, which paid more than $120 million for an aggregation of farmland in Tasmania.

Australia recorded its best-ever spring rural property selling season, with billions of dollars changing hands.

Experts say the season was supported by significant interest from both domestic and overseas family and corporate investors which pushed prices to unprecedented levels.

The fundamentals of the spring market, they said, were driven by low interest rates, record commodity prices and good seasonal conditions across most of Australia.

CBRE Agribusiness managing director David Goodfellow said some of the prices being paid for rural property during spring were “amazing”.

“The confidence among farmers at the moment is just fantastic,” Mr Goodfellow said. “People are very aware that their balance sheets are looking very healthy at the moment, and decisions need to be made.

“The follow-up from spring with a now-forecast wet summer has got people pretty excited.”

The biggest deal of the season featured the much-anticipated sale of the Lawson Grains cropping portfolio — one of Australia’s biggest grain farm businesses.

The 105,000-hectare portfolio in NSW and Western Australia was listed by Macquarie Agriculture in April.

It sold to Canada’s Alberta Management Investment Corporation in early September. The portfolio comprises more than 70 properties across 10 aggregations put together by Macquarie since the Lawson fund’s launch in 2012.

Macquarie Agriculture – the nation’s second-biggest farmland investor – sold its Lawson Grains portfolio comprising 105,000ha in NSW and Western Australia.

The second-biggest deal involved a 6000-hectare slice of Van Dairy Limited’s controversial Woolnorth aggregation in northwest Tasmania, which sold to the Roberts-Thomson family of TRT Pastoral for $120 million on November 1.

The deal is believed to be one of the richest in Tasmania’s history and one of the single-biggest farmland sales to domestic family interests ever in Australia. In its almost 200-year history, Woolnorth has only ever been owned by offshore parties, from the UK, New Zealand and China.

Tim Roberts-Thomson of TRT Pastoral, which runs what is understood to be one of the largest privately held Angus cattle herd in Australia across multiple holdings in Victoria and on Tasmania’s King Island, said Woolnorth boasted some of the most productive farmland in Australia.

“To get this type of scale in northwest Tasmania is just unheard of — it is a real coup,” Mr Roberts-Thomson said.

Tim Roberts-Thomson with his children Madeleine and James from TRT Pastoral, Delatite. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Rounding out the top three spring sales was the German-backed THF Finance Pty Ltd’s 21,900-hectare central Queensland aggregation, to various local interests during November.

Among the purchasers were Rural Funds Group, who paid $13.8 million for THF’s 1917ha The Pocket at Gogango. Rural Funds last month also paid $68.8 million for the Kaiuroo aggregation at Mackenzie River in Queensland.

Other major corporate sell-offs included the offloading of the US-backed Laguna Bay Pastoral Company’s Woorndoo aggregation at Lake Bolac, in Victoria’s Western District, to two Australian farming families for $70 million and Chinese-backed Rifa Salutary’s sale of Cooplacurripa Station at Gloucester in NSW for $35 million, both during November.

FULL LIST:

$600 MILLION
LAWSON GRAINS PORTFOLIO, NSW AND WA
105,000 HECTARES
Seller: Macquarie Agriculture
Buyer: Alberta Management Investment Corporation (Canada)

$120 MILLION
WOOLNORTH AGGREGATION, SMITHTON TAS
6000 HECTARES
Seller: Van Dairy Limited (China)
Buyer: Roberts Thomson family, TRT Pastoral

$100 MILLION
THF FINANCE PTY LTD AGGREGATION, CENTRAL QLD
21,900 HECTARES
Seller: THF Finance Pty Ltd (Germany)
Buyer: Various buyers including Rural Funds Group who paid $13.8 million for the 1917-hectare The Pocket at Gogango.

$70 MILLION
WOORNDOO AGGREGATION, LAKE BOLAC VIC
3353 HECTARES
Seller: Laguna Bay Agricultural Fund (US)
Buyer: Shippen family, Moulamein NSW (southern section), Clinton Ross, Ararat (northern section)

$70 MILLION
RUBY DOWNS AND STURT CREEK, KIMBERLEY WA
796,000 HECTARES
Seller: Gina Rinehart-Hancock Prospecting
Buyer: Viv Oldfield, Alice Springs NT

$68.8 MILLION
KAIUROO AGGREGATION, MACKENZIE RIVER QLD
Buyer: Rural Funds Group (ASX listed)

$40 MILLION
BELLEVUE AGGREGATION, CAIRNS QLD
Seller: Burton-Taylor family, Hillgrove Pastoral

$38 MILLION
GARRAWILLA AND BELMORE, BORDER RIVERS NSW
1723 HECTARES (GARAWILLA) AND 518 HECTARES (BELMORE)

$35 MILLION
COOPLACURRIPA STATION, GLOUCESTER NSW
Seller: Rifa Salutary (China)
Buyer: Phillip and Vanessa Bell, Goulburn NSW

$30 MILLION-PLUS
BANDANA, ROMA QLD
17,477 HECTARES
Buyer: Pickersgill family, Comet QLD

$30 MILLION
NERRIMA STATION, DERBY WA
203,142 HECTARES
Seller: Gina Rinehart-Hancock Agriculture
Buyer: Johnathan Emanuel

$25 MILLION-PLUS
CATOMBAL AGGREGATION, MOLONG NSW
2912 HECTARES

$25 MILLION
STRATHPARK STATION, NORMAN RIVER CROSSING QLD
159,700 HECTARES
Buyer: North Queensland Cattle Company

$24.8 MILLION
MT HARDEN AGGREGATION, BLACKALL QLD
34,000 HECTARES
Seller: Tony Haggarty
Buyer: AAM

$23.36 MILLION
CEDAR CREEK, GOGANGO QLD
5100 HECTARES

$20 MILLION-PLUS
NIANGALA, CARNEGIE NSW
2833 HECTARES
Buyer: Tony Haggarty

$20.2 MILLION
BELLEVUE FARMS, WENTWORTH NSW
637 HECTARES
Seller: John Kelly, Wentworth NSW
Buyer: Qualia Wines, Mildura

$20 MILLION
CLYDEBANK AGGREGATION, GIPPSLAND VIC
1273 HECTARES
Seller: Gray Wigg Gault
Buyer: Aurora Dairies-PSP Investments (Canada)

$18 MILLION
KARRARA FARMS AND ACACIA DAIRY, ECKLIN SOUTH VIC
1055 HECTARES

$16.3 MILLION
BOBBIWAA SOUTH, NARRABRI NSW
1457 HECTARES
Seller: Lampe family

$16 MILLION
WOONOONA, GREG GREG NSW
375 HECTARES

$15.1 MILLION
LEICHARDT CREEK, GUMLU QLD
13,577 HECTARES

$15-$16 MILLION
BOWNESS AND WILLOWMERE, MURRINGO NSW
1392 HECTARES
Buyer: Windridge Farms, Young NSW

$15 MILLION-PLUS
SLATEY CREEK, DUARINGA QLD
6268 HECTARES
Sellers: Charlie and Kaye Wilson

$13.5 MILLION
SLM PARTNERS AGGREGATION, QUILPIE QLD
166,000 HECTARES

$13.45 MILLION
PARKLEIGH, MOSS VALE NSW
53 HECTARES

$13 MILLION
BULGOO, COBAR NSW
49,811 HECTARES

$12 MILLION-PLUS
KUTCHERA, GEORGETOWN QLD
81,000 HECTARES

$11.5 MILLION
NORTH DANANBILLA AGGREGATION, YOUNG NSW
618 HECTARES

$11 MILLION
NORTH COMBARNGO, WARKON QLD
2480 HECTARES

$11 MILLION
MOUNTAIN TOP AVOCADO ORCHARD, NIMBIN NSW
117 HECTARES
Seller: Barry and Vickie Kuhnell
Buyer: Gunn Agri

$10 MILLION-PLUS
KINTYRE, GLEN INNES NSW
4860 HECTARES

UNKNOWN
SYLVANIA, BOGGABRI NSW AND MARSHMEAD, WALGETT NSW
3444 HECTARES (SYLVANIA) AND 12,548 HECTARES (MARSHMEAD)
Seller: MH Premium Farms (UK)
Buyer: Local farmers

RURAL PROPERTY DEALS STILL IN PLAY

$350 million – Corinella Group, VIC and SA (22,500 hectares)
$230 million – Walhallow and Amungee Mungee stations, Daly Waters NT (1.32 million hectares)
$122 million – Shenhua aggregation, Liverpool Plains NSW (15,000 hectares)
$120 million – Cowal Agriculture aggregation, Emerald QLD (5976 hectares)
$60 million – Yarrabee Park, Morundah NSW (11,260 hectares)
$50 million – Cobran Station, Hay NSW (14,149 hectares)$30 million – Dalriada, Holbrook NSW (1435 hectares)
$28 million-plus – Airlie, Thoona VIC (1935 hectares)
$20 million-plus – Banool, Gatum VIC (1304 hectares)
$16 million – Ziz Oasis Macadamia Farm, Beerwah QLD (101 hectares)
$12 million-plus – Murrundindi Station, Yea VIC (430 hectares)
$10 million – Yambuk Dairy, Port Fairy VIC (215 hectares)

Originally published as Australian rural property prices record a bumper spring