The cost of Australian farmland has more than doubled during the past 10 years, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) data shows.
The average price per hectare of broadacre farmland increased by 131 per cent during the past 10 years, according to the ABARES' farmland price indicator.
ABARES boss Jared Greenville said while farmland prices were relatively flat in 2023, they capped a decade of strong growth.
“Over the 10 years to 2023, broadacre farmland prices went from $4088 to $9429 per hectare,” Dr Greenville said.
“Australian broadacre farmland values reached $9576 per hectare in 2022 but declined slightly by 1.5 per cent on average through 2023."
Apart from a dip in 2023, prices grew at an average annual rate of more than 10 per cent in the past decade.
Dr Greenville said interest rates and seasonal conditions would help determine whether there was a turnaround in land prices in 2024.
The price growth differed depending on which production zone the land fell in, with high rainfall zones experiencing the fastest growth, followed closely by the wheat-sheep zone and the pastoral zone behind that.
Victoria's Wimmera region experienced the highest annual growth rate in the past 10 years at 18.42 per cent, followed closely by Queensland's west and southwest, which recorded 18.05 per cent growth.
Queensland's Darling Downs and Central Highlands recorded the third-highest annual growth rate of 15.97 per cent.
But while prices were up, the number of sales was down, according to the data.
"There's been a noticeable decline in the number of transactions, with the most noticeable in the high rainfall zones and also the wheat sheep zone," Dr Greenville said.
"Interestingly, they're also the zones that have experienced the most rapid growth," he told AAP.
Dr Greenville said larger parcels of land being traded in the wheat-sheep zone was partly responsible for the reduced number of transactions.
"There are fewer farms overall, which means fewer buyers and sellers in the market."
The volume of broadacre transactions has decreased on average 6.5 per cent a year in the past 10 years.
