INTER-REGIONAL farmland purchases can be the result of limited availability in buyers' local areas.
That was said to be the case for an Esperance farmer who has purchased a property at Badgingarra from a farming family.
Farm Weekly understands the property Bundidup, of 1332 hectares, was sold for more than $4 million.
This suggests that based on a $4m sale price, the property equated to at least $3000 per hectare.
As previously reported in Farm Weekly, the Esperance market has intensified in the past 12 months.
It was already a tight market, with high demand and limited listings, but that dynamic has escalated, forcing buyers to look elsewhere to purchase land.
It's understood the buyer of Bundidup, purchased it as an investor and the property has already been leased out to a neighbour.
Nutrien Harcourts WA sales manager Terry Norrish handled the sale and said the property sold for "pretty good value".
"(The buyer saw) it as being good value or well-priced compared to farmland in the Esperance region," Mr Norrish said.
The fact that it took very little time to find a tenant for the property was reflective of the current lease demand, he said.
All enquiries in the property came from parties local to WA, although mostly from outside the region, with both family operations and corporate farmers in the mix.
Mr Norrish said the key feature of the property was that it was "very well improved" in terms of soils, fencing and a new shearing shed.
He said the property was also well watered from underground water and high average annual rainfall of 460-480 millimetres.
In October 2019, Rabobank identified there were several factors contributing to buyers being more inclined to make inter-regional land purchases.
These were a lack of properties available for sale particularly with characteristics buyers were seeking; smaller populations for some regional areas has led farmers purchasing land for lifestyle reasons; return on investment varies depending on regions; climate variability and risk mitigation.
Another notable sale in the Central Midlands area was Coalara Park, Dandaragan.
Farm Weekly understands the 4422ha property sold for $8m or $1809/ha.
The property was once a very productive grazing property and then was later converted for cropping.
It was purchased by a timber company which plans to grow sandalwood.
Selling agent and Elders Real Estate sales representative Kris Teakle said the sale result was an "excellent outcome".
Ms Teakle also handled the sale of Treevale, at Dandaragan, which spanned 1216.7ha and was purchased by an agricultural fund group which has foreign and domestic funding.
This property sold for $2.6m or $2137/ha.
She said the Central Midlands market has been very strong over the past selling season, with buyers enticed by its good rainfall, quality soils and reasonably close proximity to Perth.
"Anything that comes up of quality gets sold quickly," Ms Teakle said.
"Properties that haven't sold yet haven't sold for an understandable reason or are under offer."
Mr Norrish said the local market echoed the strength of the rest of the State, with fundamentals such as strong commodity prices and low interest rates driving demand.
Dandaragan was referenced in Rural Bank's annual farmland values report, which stated that land values in the area averaged $2246 for 2019, up from $1198 in 2018.
The latest report for 2020 land values is yet to be released.