Australian rural property values have jumped 25% this year according to Rabobank’s five-year outlook released earlier this week. Prices paid for Australian cropping land has outpaced the US, Canada and Western Europe in recent years while Australian grazing land values have grown more than those in North America and Europe. The lift in value has taken Australia’s arable farmland median price is $5,400 per ha. Median prices for grazing, cropping and dairy country rose 27% in 2021. A Rabobank survey shows that 6% of Australian farms intend to buy land in the next year compared with their forecast of 11% a year ago.

RaboResearch’s general manager Stefan Vogel said tight land availability and rising input costs plus interest rate rises are cooling demand, however, the five-year agricultural land outlook remians positive with double-digit rises forecast in values this year. Vogel said the streak of perfect seasons is unlikely to continue as production volumes comes down from current record levels. RaboResearch’s basse forecast is that land price growth will continue, showing double-digit growth also for 2022 as a result of the strong first half of the year, but for the following years, a substantial slowdown of land prices is predicted.