Big buyers snapping up Aussie farmland in $300m deals

Seasoned agricultural investors, cashed-up families and an Australian energy company are some of the buyers behind $300m worth of recent farm sales.

At least $300 million worth of Australian farms have changed hands in recent deals, with some major investors using their extra buying power to outbid the market.

LAWD senior director Col Medway, who recently handled the $35 million-plus sale of Lord Michael Hintze’s mighty 7600ha northern NSW livestock farm Warrane, to major Australian energy retailer Origin Energy, said there was still strong buyer depth in the market.

“Despite some headwinds in the market, the demand for farmland is undeniable,” Mr Medway said.

“There has obviously been a softening in the livestock market and in the seasonal outlook, but on the east coast there have been some wonderful conditions, so there is still that buyer interest to get deals done.”

Alongside Origin Energy’s purchase of Warrane, major investors have completed a number of other significant deals recently, using their increased buying power to acquire farmland which has boomed in value.

Recently, ASX-listed Rural Funds Management and the Caldwell family from Milwillah Angus on the NSW South West Slopes have partnered to purchase 18,500ha cattle station Wyseby for at least $60 million.

Warakirri Diversified Agriculture Fund recently completed a $32 million off-market acquisition of a 350ha almond orchard near Mildura, while the Sydney arm of the wealthy Baillieu family purchased the 2658ha mixed farming property Ruvigne, located on the Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah for $40 million-plus last month.

These massive prices have come after several years of exponential value growth, captured by ABARES’ new Farmland Price Index.

Ruvigne at Gunnedah was purchased by the Sydney arm of the Baillieu family last month.

ABARES executive director Dr Jared Greenville said growth in farmland prices was extraordinary, with the average price of national broadacre farmland per hectare almost doubling during the past three years, increasing by 93 per cent from 2020 to 2023.

“Farmland is often used to secure lending, so increases in value can both improve equity and drive investment,” Dr Greenville said.

During the same time period the ABARES index reported national median farmland prices have grown most in high rainfall zones, increasing by 125 per cent in the past three years to almost $9000 per hectare.

In wheat-sheep zones, values increased by 80 per cent to $3465 a hectare while pastoral land spiked by 130 per cent to $1528 per hectare in 2023.

Nutrien Harcourts Wangaratta director Joe McKenzie, who handled the $15 million sale of the 511ha farm, Bunyarra near Brimin in North East Victoria to a young, emerging local family, said demand in the market had become more considered as prices have plateaued at record levels.

“Generally for the market, I think buyers are being much more astute at the moment. The balance of production figures, return on investment and quality all have to line-up now,” he said.