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Spring 2018 Property Pull-Out October 29, 2018
farmersweekly.co.nz
Waikato offers plenty of choice Alan Williams alan.williams@globalhq.co.nz
WAIKATO will have quite a few more dairy farms on the market this spring and summer but probably the same number of buyers as last season. “People will be thinking will that have an impact on prices. “Well, we are about a week away from the first auctions so should see the signs soon,” Bayleys country manager Mark Dawe said. Three or four farms a week are going on the market in Waikato though no localised area seemed stacked with listings and he doesn’t think there is an oversupply. “We’re not sure if the appetite for that number of properties is there so there is a bit of caution.” Waikato-based Dawe said initial market trends should be evident by mid to late November and the likelihood is the trends will be subject to Christmas-period debate. The sale season is earlier this year because of the kinder winter and spring and he feels market conditions will be quite supportive. Over that period last season Bayleys was involved in three dairy farm sales in the favoured Matamata area, with prices in the $60,000-$61,000/ha range. Good Matamata prices coincided with strong early sales volumes as well. That higher-value, highervolume mix is interesting for the market because it shows the cream does rise to the top. “We found that around Te Awamutu and Morrinsville and the Hamilton fringes the better properties were selling well and prices were comparable or just below the previous season.” That early sales activity wasn’t as evident in the tier-
Buyers are being offered plenty of choice in Waikato dairy farms this year.
two properties where location, infrastructure and improvements weren’t as favourable, Dawe said. The properties sold as the season moved through summer but a wider price band emerged. The Waikato dairy farm market has a range of influences. The Matamata sales in the $60,000/ha range were genuine dairy sales but proximity to Hamilton north and popular towns, with Morrinsville being an example, can produce a land development premium and Matamata also had sales in the
$80,000/ha to $100,000/ha bracket where land-use change to market gardens was planned. In a list of sales Dawe mentioned a farm in Horsham Downs Road on the Hamilton city boundary where the land development potential over the next few years contributed to a $10.13 million price, representing $75,077/ha. At Cambridge a dairy farm sale benefited from being between two horse studs. There’s another influence outside the general Waikato market and that is farms
supplying Tatua co-operative. They change hands rarely and can be in the $95,000/ha to $110,000/ ha range, excluding shares, Dawe said. General values range from $60,000/ha and occasionally higher down to the $34,000/ha to $40,000/ha range in parts of Hauraki Plains. Because of the small, more compact style of farms in Waikato there has not been the same level of foreign buyer activity as for the larger dairy farms of Canterbury and Southland. However, it has been there and
Bayleys has one contract subject to Overseas Investment Office approval. During the winter the real estate group also had an overseas offer at a higher level than domestic offers but the vendor acted on his professional advice and accepted a NZ offer at a 10% discount to that. It was a cash, unconditional offer in the $40,000/ha bracket. Neighbouring farmers are typically strong buyers in the region. Some representative sales made by Bayleys last season across wider Waikato (prices exclude processor shares where applicable and livestock): Tairua Rd, Hikuai, 56ha effective dairy producing about 33,000kg MS a year from 120 cows, sold at $1.9m, at $33,928/ha, $57.58/kg MS. Davidson Rd, Matamata, 121ha producing 108,000kg MS from 300 cows, sold for $7.4m, at $61,157/ ha, $68.52/kg MS. Monckton Rd, Te Awamutu, 171ha, 331,783kg MS from 680 cows, sold for $9.17m, at $53,625/ ha, $27.64/kg MS. Puketutu Rd, Matamata, 121ha, 160,000kg MS from 370 cows, sold for $7.2m, at $59,504/ha, $45/kg MS. Horsham Downs Rd, Hamilton city boundary, 135ha, 134,490kg MS from 320 cows, sold for $10.135m, at $75,077/ha, $75.36/ kg MS. Maungakawa Rd, Cambridge, 107ha, 94,402kg MS from 265 cows, sold for $3.69m, at $34,485/ ha, $36.02/kg MS. Te Poi Rd, Matamata, 58ha, 42,000kg MS from 150 cows, sold for $3.4m, at $58,620/ha, $80.95/ kg MS. Arapuni Rd, Putaruru, 80ha, 70,000kg MS from 215 cows, sold for $3.65m, at $45,625/ha, $52.14/ kg MS. Top Rd, Ngatea, 51ha, 48,329kg MS from 160 cows, sold for $2.025m, at $39,706/ha, $41.90/ kg MS.