A RUN of rural property sales in southern Queensland is suggesting a continuation in the overall improvement of values, particularly for cattle and mixed farming properties.
Toowoomba-based Herron Todd White valuer Stephen Cameron said while the property market was normally slow at the start of the year, there were a number of sales indicating growing confidence in the market.
“A pending sale that will provide a good benchmark for the western Queensland is that of Oakwood, a 28,300 hectare grazing lease, located 50km west of Augethella,” Mr Cameron said.
“Reports are the value achieved was not too far short of the initial asking price of $395/ha.”
Mr Cameron said Hewitt Cattle Company in partnership with the Canadian Public Sector Investment Board also continued to expand its property portfolio with the negotiated transaction with Australian Pacific LNG to purchase about 41,084ha of freehold and term lease country.
Those sales included Strathblane, Scotts Creek and Wybara north east of Roma.
“The acquisition will complement their existing stake with the parent property Pony Hills that was originally part of Scotts Creek, prior to being purchased by the gas company in 2007,” Mr Cameron said.
“The holdings include some major gas infrastructure that would be expected to remain under the control of the Australian Pacific APLNG.”
Another sale of significance was the three Van Reit holdings Ballaroo to the south of Roma and Fairview and Ekari Park to the south of Mitchell to The Trust Company Limited held by the Gunn Agi Partners based in Sydney. The 36,095ha aggregation is considered to run in the vicinity of 6500 Adult Cattle ($1754/AE) and sold for $11.4 million according to online searches.
Mr Cameron said much of Southern Queensland had received a very good to 2016.
“Good rain on the outer Downs and to the west as far as Quilpie have certainty put a smile on the faces of many graziers,” Mr Cameron said.
“The bulk of the rain that fell over the Christmas period in the southern half of the state was in the Quilpie, Murweh and Maranoa districts. Although the falls will provide some relief to many drought stricken properties, more will be needed. As with most weather events there are also those that unfortunately miss out, with patchy falls and less than 10mm recorded in some areas.”
However, Mr Cameron said in many cases the rain had failed to run water into empty dams and some properties where now in a ‘green drought’, a term used to describe a situation where there is ample feed but insufficient water for livestock.
Mr Cameron said the activity in the property market was being driven to a large extent by cattle prices.
“The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator hit record highs at 600.75c/kg carcase weight in the second week of January,” he said.
“This will provide confidence in the market that will ultimately be the driver of a market recovery should the prices hold.”
Mr Cameron said the cattle market was expected to remain strong given the re-stocker market would be active and the ongoing demand from feedlots.
“In 2015 the Roma cattle market saw an 80 per cent increase in the number of cattle sold through the centre and 100pc increase in the value of stock turnover since the previous year.
“This would raise concern on availability of stock able to meet those feedlot and processor demands. I presume if not, then how long can the market sustain these price increases both domestically and for export before there is a market reaction.”
Mr Cameron said despite the significant improvement in cattle prices there does appear to be some volatility in the market as yard prices fell 30c in selling centres mid January.