Selling rural property online pre-covid was a rarity, with the industry standard of selling on property being the traditional method. Like many traditional selling channels, COVID enforced lockdowns turned everything on its head, resulting in the exploration of new selling mechanisms. Subsequently this resulted in 38 different property auctions offered on AuctionsPlus in 2020, increasing to 80 in 2021, and rising again to 90 auctions in 2022. The recent surge in online property sales has not only registered an increase in volume, with the rural property boom seeing 2022 online property sales average 14% above reserve levels.
Of the 90 auctions hosted on AuctionsPlus throughout the year, most properties on offer came from NSW - accounting for 58% of the offering, with Central Western NSW taking out top listing region. Victoria and Queensland followed behind, accounting for 28% and 14% of the offerings, respectively.
With sale results continuing to move from strength to strength, the quality of properties on offer across 2022 also aided positive sale results. Robust commodity prices and good production volumes across much of eastern Australia made for stronger land prices. A total of 175,576 acres were traded online, with total sales reaching an average of $7,457/acre – 14% above reserve price.
Victoria experienced the largest increase in rural property sales on AuctionsPlus with the average property price per acre rising an impressive 39% on 2021 to sit at $13,944/acre for 2022. Additionally, NSW registered an average of $5,455/acre while Queensland reached $7,186/acre (Table 1).
Table 1: AuctionsPlus Property sale average $/acre 2021-2022
The addition of live interfaced property auctions on the AuctionsPlus platform in 2022 combined both audio and video streaming capabilities, allowing online buyers to watch and follow along with the live auction. The “Mayfield & Tilgafield”, NSW property auction saw strong online competition, with AuctionsPlus bidders competing heavily for the 2,301-acre property. A total of 38 online users logged in to watch the auction which had received over 3,000 catalogue views in the lead-up to sale day.
Property highlights for the year included the $16.05 million sale of a Bombala, NSW property - the highest grossing property sale sold on AuctionsPlus. From Victoria, a Ballarat property sold for an impressive $14,000/acre, while the largest parcel holding sale was a 39,585-acre mixed farming property in Cobar, NSW, selling for a total of $2.58 million.
As we look ahead to 2023, the effects of rising of interest rates and the cost of living, coupled with pressured commodity prices will serve a true test to the property price rally moving forward.