THE value of WA farmland has continued to grow, with the median price increasing by 10.6 per cent in 2015, according to Rural Bank's inaugural Australian Farmland Values report.
Released last week, the new report features a comprehensive analysis of Australian farmland property values and key national, State and regional trends.
The report tracks the median price of WA agricultural land over the past 20 years and shows that the median price of the State's farmland has increased on average by 6.1pc per annum since 1995.
The median price increase has been recorded alongside a rise in the average number of farmland transactions per year over the past four years, with an average of 737 transactions recorded per year between 2012 and 2015.
In 2015, a total of 437,000 hectares of farmland was traded at a value of about $670 million.
The new report has been produced by Rural Bank's specialist market insights division Ag Answers and is based on real farm sales since 1995.
The report analysis draws on more than 220,000 transactions across Australia, accounting for 264mha of land with a combined value of $124 billion.
The report provides farmers with insights into one of their key assets and how well that asset is holding its value in the context of the whole market.
Rural Bank WA agribusiness relationship manager Garry Harvey said the report's findings confirmed how the value of the State's farmland is actually tracking.
"The median price of WA farmland has generally followed an upward trajectory since 1995, despite some consolidation between 2006 and 2010," Mr Harvey said.
"The strength in the value of this key asset over the long term provides good reason for WA farmers to be optimistic about the future value of their land, especially when measured against national trends."
Mr Harvey said it was difficult to pinpoint any one reason for the continued growth in median farmland prices across the State, but the analysis showed resilience in farmland value despite the inevitable cycles of agriculture across regions and industries.
"WA is a very diverse region, where there are high and low rainfall areas and agricultural industries ranging from broadacre grain and livestock, to intensive irrigation and vineyard enterprises," Mr Harvey said.
"With this diversity comes a wide range of farmland prices and the mix of properties sold in any given year is likely to have contributed to the large variations seen in the median price from year to year.
"Having said that, the positive growth of 2015 shows a good level of confidence across the State."
