PGG Wrightson's General Manager for Livestock and Rural Real Estate, Peter Newbold. Photo / Supplied
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Jamie Mackay from The Country spoke recently with Peter Newbold, General Manager of PGG Wrightson Real Estate.
Mackay asked if the recent rise in the forecast milk price from Fonterra was influencing the price of dairy farms.
Newbold confirmed that over the last couple of months there had been lots of activity in the rural property market.
In fact, he said December had been the biggest month he'd seen in a decade.
He did add, however, that the dairy side had been a little bit quieter than sheep, beef, grazing and horticulture.
Newbold put this disparity down to the complexity of owning a dairy property and the need for a lot more due diligence when weighing up an investment.
Mackay also raised the issue of carbon farming and its propensity for taking over valuable pastoral land.
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Newbold agreed that while carbon farming was good for the vendors, there was no question it' was over-inflating the value of rural properties and putting younger farmers out of the market.
In his view, there was a pressing need to revisit the rules and regulations around carbon farming.
Mackay asked about horticulture – especially kiwifruit.
He asked Newbold why there was a large number of kiwifruit farms coming onto the market.
Newbold said there had been a real shortage over the last couple of years and kiwifruit farmers had held on to their properties as returns had been fantastic – and still were.
Now people were retiring, they were looking at succession or they were re-developing new blocks, so a number of high-quality kiwifruit farms were coming to market, Newbold said.
There was a lot of interest so it would be interesting to see where prices go, Newbold said.
He reckoned there might be a few more record prices paid.
Mackay and Newbold wrapped the interview by taking a look at PGG Wrightson's property of the week: Perfection in Paengaroa
Sponsored content: GM of PGG Wrightson Real Estate's monthly look at the rural market.