AUSTRALIAN farming land is fundamentally undervalued, local rural property consultant Philip Jarvis claims in The Wealth Report 2011.
Agricultural land price growth flattened in 2010, with dry land arable property with reliable rainfall gaining only 2 per cent during the year compared with 10 per cent annually in the years before, according to the report.
Price growth was hampered by the higher Australian dollar and rising interest rates.
Such farmland is now priced at an average of $US1600 to $1700 a hectare, The Australian Financial Review reports.
This compared with gains of 13 per cent for farmland in England, 6 per cent to 24 per cent growth in areas of Brazil and 10 per cent in parts of Argentina.
Knight Frank head of rural property research Andrew Shirley said buying farmland to address food security concerns was a key issue for countries experiencing rapid population growth, including countries such as China, India and South Korea as well as wealthy Gulf states.
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