THE average price of Australian broadacre farmland per hectare has almost doubled over the last three years, increasing by 93 percent from 2020 to 2023, a new report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics says.

Jared Greenville

ABARES executive director Dr Jared Greenville said recent growth in farmland prices has been extraordinary, and likely reflected a combination of factors including low interest rates, recent good commodity prices and seasonal conditions, and increased demand for land in general.

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

• Median farmland prices have grown most in the high rainfall zone, increasing by 125pc over the last three years to almost $9000/ha.
• Price growth in the wheat-sheep zone was also strong, increasing by 80pc over the same period to $3465/ha.
• Coming off a lower base, the average price of pastoral zone farmland increased by 130pc since 2020 to reach $1528/ha in 2023.

The latest farmland price estimates can be accessed through ABARES’ new Farmland Price Index online tool – click here to access.

“Through an innovative and simple to operate dashboard on our website, users can gain valuable insights into market trends, access reliable information on the value of their farmland assets and track annual changes over time,” Dr Greenville said.

Users can make price comparisons between farming zones or download data for their own analysis.

“The Index utilises a robust and effective method developed by ABARES ensuring estimates reflect market conditions,” Dr Greenville said.

This is the first release of the ABARES Farmland Price Index — a statistically robust measure of Australian broadacre farmland prices using CoreLogic data and a stratified median approach. Further expansion of this product is underway to include detailed regional estimates and quarterly indexes.

Source: ABARES