A new rural property sales report launched last week is designed to provide prospective buyers and vendors with a more informed position on which to base their property business decisions.

Regional and rural property agency Landmark Harcourts on Thursday launched its ‘Benchmark’ quarterly activity report, which it sees as filling a niche in the property market knowledge spectrum.

While qualitative reports are compiled regularly by valuation firms and others – discussing price and demand trends and offering specific sale examples in different regions – this is the first time an attempt has been made to gather quantitative data on total property movements, covering both volume and value, in regional and rural areas.

The Benchmark report is based on Valuer Generals’ (or equivalents in each state, such as WA’s Land Information Authority) lodgements in regional and rural local government areas in each state or territory, for properties sold over the preceding three months. It divides the listings into three groups, for holdings less than 4ha in area, 4-40ha, and above 40ha.

At last week’s Benchmark report launch in Brisbane, Landmark Harcourts chief executive Darren Cole said the document was designed to help customers make more informed decisions about purchasing and/or selling property in regional and rural Australia.

“Nobody has ever focussed their attention specifically on a regional/rural market document like this. We think it will provide a valuable future resource, and will only improve over time, as comparisons can be made with previous years,” he said.

“It provides a comprehensive ‘big picture’ look at Australia’s regional and rural property market.”

The report was still being refined, he said, and there was scope to develop it in different directions, based on feedback from stakeholders who have now seen the first copy.

One of the contributors to the reports is RP Data, a supplier of commercial, rural and residential property market information.

RP Data head of research, Tim Lawless, who has collaborated in the Landmark Harcourts in the development of the Benchmark report, said the industry now had some ‘cold, hard data’ on which to base property marketing decisions, and to assist with strategic planning.

“Looking at properties sales over 40ha in size for example, it is often found that these transactions are very complex in nature. As a result, sifting through the data certainly takes time, which is probably one of the reasons why this type of report has not been produced previously,” he said.

The Benchmark document has also been translated into Mandarin, providing exposure to customers serviced by Harcourts network partners in China, and nine other countries.

On a state-by-state basis, some of the findings from the inaugural first quarter, 2013 report included:

 

New South Wales:

Across the 98 NSW regional and rural council areas analysed, Port Macquarie-Hastings had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (299), followed by Coffs Harbour (270), Wagga Wagga (251) and Tamworth (248). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 4pc of transactions by number, but 10.3pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha during the quarter was in the Clarence Valley and Kempsey regional council areas (11 each), Tamworth regional and Greater Taree (10); Upper Hunter and Lachlan (eight each).

Victoria:

Across the 45 Victorian regional and rural council areas analysed, Ballarat had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (237), followed by Greater Bendigo (188), Bass Coast (174), Mildura and Wodonga (both 141). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 1.6pc of transactions by number, but 3.6pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was at Moira (9), Loddon (5), Corongamite and Strathbogie (three each).

South Australia:

Across the 46 South Australian regional and rural council areas analysed, Alexandrina had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (195), followed by Copper Coast (159), Gawler (147) and Barossa (139). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 6.4pc of transactions by number, but 17.3pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was at Wakefield (20), Kangaroo Island and Port Pirie district (eight each), Wattle Range (7), and Goyder and Yorke Peninsula (six each).

Western Australia:

Across the 83 Western Australian regional and rural council areas analysed, the Swan region had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (339), followed by Bunbury (216), Geraldton-Greenhough (200) and Albany (183). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 2.3pc of transactions by number, but 26.6pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was at Esperance (6), Wyndham/East Kimberley (5),  and Chapman Valley, Donnybrook, Victoria Plains and Woodanilling (three each).

Tasmania:

Across the 25 Tasmanian regional and rural council areas analysed, the Latrobe region had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (312), followed by Launceston region (205), Glenorchy (131), Kingborough (118) and Huon Valley (89). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 0.8pc of transactions by number, but 1.9pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was at Central Coast, Circular Head, Dorset and Northern midlands, each with two sales.

Queensland:

Across the 44 Queensland regional and rural council areas analysed, the Townsville region had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (797), followed by Cairns (766), Toowoomba (595) and Mackay (520. Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 1.7pc of transactions by number, but 3.3pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was at Dalby, Bundaberg and Gympie (9 each), Mackay (7), Central Highlands (6), and North and South Burnett (5 each).

Northern Territory:

Across the nine Northern Territory regional and rural council areas analysed, the Darwin area had the greatest number of sales during the first quarter (466), followed by Palmerston (339), Alice Springs (142), Litchfield (75) and Katherine (65). Properties in the largest category above 40ha accounted for 0.4pc of transactions by number, but 0.6pc by value. The heaviest rate of transaction in properties +40ha was around Darwin and Katherine, with two each.

• Beef Central will publish highlights from future Benchmark reports, as they are published.