M:
The Big Picture
H2/25
Rural Queensland
Water Availability
Bushfire Risk
Rainfall
Carbon Pricing
Farming Performance
Rural Commodities
Rural Commodities
Rural Commodities
Canola
Rural Commodities
Rural Property Sales Update
Rural Property Sales -7%
Rural Queensland broadacre farmland transactions tallied 589 sales in 2024, a downward trajectory of 7% on the previous year and a similar to the volume recorded back in 2010 This sales volume was 14% below five years earlier and 50% lower than 20 years ago. This lower number of total listings came at a time when the property market and business were anticipating a considerable reduction in interest rates with significant uncertainty in the global outlook As a benchmark, over the past five years, the annual average was 793 rural property sales, whilst since 2004, the annual average has been 786 sales
Share of National Rural Property Sales
The Rural Queensland share in the total number of national rural sales was 27.7% in 2024. This share of sales was slightly higher than one year ago when the proportion was 26 8%, and remains above 17.0% recorded five years ago and the 23 3% share in 2004 Over the past year, Rural Queensland (-7%) performed better than Rural Australia (-10%) in the annual growth of sales volume activity
Rural Property Sales, by annual number Rural Queensland
27.7%
Share of National Rural Property Sales, by Number, 2024 Rural Queensland
Rural Queensland, 2024
Number of rural properties sold in past year
Change from a year ago
Change from 5 years ago
Change from 20 years ago
Rural Property Sales Update
Major Regions
Rural Property Sales
Overall in Rural Queensland, the total broadacre farmland sales in 2019 outpaced the number recorded in 2024 Across the seven major regions, South Queensland Coastal saw the highest number of broadacre farmland sales in 2024 with 225 transactions This was followed by the Darling Downs and Central Highlands region (146), Eastern Darling Downs (118), North Queensland Coastal (45) then Charleville (24), Central North (21) and the West and South West (9) region When considering the distribution of the broadacre farmland transactions back in 2019, once again the highest ranked region was South Queensland Coastal with 281 sales, then Darling Downs and Central Highlands (141), Eastern Darling Downs (104) and North Queensland Coastal (69) This was followed by Central North (33), the West and South West (33) then the Charleville region (25)
Zoning
Rural Property Sales
The Wheat-Sheep rural zone made up the largest proportion of broadacre farmland sales across Rural Australia with 54% in 2024 (1,160 sales). The rural zones of High Rainfall with 896 sales (42%) and Pastoral with 74 sales (3%) made up the remainder. Back in 2019, the number of sales in the High Rainfall zoning led the tally (49%), followed by Wheat-Sheep (48%) The 3% share of Pastoral zoned sales, within the total, remained unchanged between the five years
Rural Property Sales, by Major Regions
Rural Queensland
Share of Rural Property Sales, by Zones
Rural Australia
Average Rural Property Price
$7,219/ha
Rural property prices across Queensland rose by 1 6% in 2024 to average $7,219 per hectare This was influenced by adverse seasonal conditions in 2023, falling livestock prices, higher interest rates, rising household expenses, and persistent global economic uncertainty. Looking back, prices have grown by 339% since back in 2004 with a steep growth curve between 2020 and 2022 during the midst of the pandemic, with 66 8% growth being since 2019 Broadacre farmland prices have annually averaged 11 4% growth over the past five years across Rural Queensland Looking forward, based on projected levels of production, commodity prices and the cost of finance, Rabobank are forecasting land value growth of 3% in 2025 as the base case outlook across Australia
Change in Average Rural Property Prices Rural Queensland, per hectare
Major Regions Rural Property Prices
In Rural Queensland, the overall average price in 2024 overtook 2019 North Queensland Coastal recorded the highest broadacre farmland average price across the seven major regions with $12,357 per hectare in 2024 Eastern Darling Downs ($10,104/ha) followed, then South Queensland Coastal ($8,465/ha), Darling Downs and Central Highlands ($4,532/ha), Central North ($2,802/ha), Charleville ($617/ha) and the West and South West region ($461/ha). This ranked order was the same as 2019 North Queensland Coastal had the highest average at $8,011/ha, then Eastern Darling Downs ($6,222/ha) and South Queensland Coastal ($5,123/ha) The Darling Downs and Central Highlands region followed ($2,297/ha), then Central North ($1,006/ha), Charleville ($315/ha) and the West and South West ($118/ha)
Average Rural Property Prices, by Major Regions Rural Queensland, per hectare
Rural Property Prices Update
Zoning
Rural Property Prices
Broadacre farmlands within the High Rainfall rural zone continued to achieve the highest average rural price at $13,014 per hectare in 2024, being 65% above five years ago Rural properties in the Wheat-Sheep zone averaged $8,073/ha in 2024, recording the highest growth in the past year (+6%) and over the past five years (+73%). Pastoral zoned properties at an average $1,118/ha in 2024, were 53% lower in price than a year ago but 46% higher priced than back in 2019
Average Rural Property Prices, by Rural Zones Rural Australia
Land Use Rural Property Prices & Sales
Across Rural Australia, the annual sales transactions for 2024 and average price shows wide variation by land use type Broadacre farmlands specialising in Beef recorded the greatest number with 753 sales, followed by Cropping (480), Dairy (147), Orchard (136), Sugarcane (105),Vineyard (73) and Forestry (39) Vineyards averaged the highest price per rural property with $41,551 per hectare, then Orchard ($39,560/ha), Dairy ($24,822/ha), Sugarcane ($20,904/ha), Forestry ($9,667/ha), Beef ($9,401/ha) and Cropping ($8,309/ha).
Average Rural Property Prices & Annual Rural Property Sales, by Land Use Rural Australia
Rural Australia Zones, 2024
Rural Queensland
Rural Queensland refers to the area outside of ‘Greater Brisbane’ or is the ‘Rest of State’ for Queensland as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which are properties most suitable for agricultural purposes
Gross Value of Production
Gross value of production (GVP) refers to the total value of products produced on farms, measured at farmgate prices. That is, the prices received by producers before any processing, transport, or retail markups
ABARES
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), is the science and economics research division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Hectares
All land area measurements in this report are expressed in hectares (ha) unless otherwise stated. One hectare equals 10,000 square metres, or approximately 2 47 acres
Currency
All monetary values in this report are expressed in Australian dollars (AUD) unless otherwise stated.
Guiding you home
Michelle Ciesielski Head of Research, McGrath Research
www.mcgrath.com.au/research
