Strong growth for Australian broadacre farmland prices

The average price of broadacre farmland per hectare has almost doubled over the last three years, increasing by 93% from 2020 to 2023.

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 in previous years, 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 125% over the last 3 years to almost $9,000 per hectare. Price growth in the wheat-sheep zone was also strong, increasing by 80% over the same period to $3,465 per hectare.

Coming off a lower base, the average price of pastoral zone farmland increased by 130% since 2020 to reach $1,528 per hectare in 2023. 

Dr Greenville said the latest farmland price estimates can be accessed by anyone through ABARES’ new Farmland Price Index online tool.

“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.”

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 already underway to include detailed regional estimates and quarterly indexes. 

ABARES’ new Farmland Price Index can be found here www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/data/farmland-price-index