Property report: Strong demand for sheep and beef

PGG Wrightson general manager for livestock and rural real estate Peter Newbold. Photo / Supplied

Content brought to you by PGG Wrightson Real Estate

Rowena Duncum from The Country touched base with Peter Newbold, general manager for livestock and real estate at PGG Wrightson to discuss the market situation.

Both agreed it had been a busy month, with wet weather on top of lambing and calving.

The first topic on the table is the continued interest in sheep and beef properties.

Newbold said the market remained strong with interest from all sectors.

Forestry was still underpinning it all but Newbold sensed that aspect was slowing a bit.

He emphasised the need for good advice when buying or selling in the sheep and beef space as it was quite complicated and there had been a lot of changes.

Duncum wondered whether there was still a lot of interest in the carbon space.

Newbold said there was and it was driving the values in sheep and beef.

He said vendors who were looking at succession or retirement felt it had never been so good to sell a sheep or beef property.

As for the dairy sector, Newbold said it was also a great time to list, with a lot of good properties coming to the market.

He said reasons for selling varied, although they were often for succession or retirement, or the feeling that it was time for a change.

Good properties naturally attracted good interest, he said.

Newbold cautioned that in some areas, a large number of properties were coming to market at once.

Duncum asked why people were putting properties on the market - were they looking to exit the industry or just not seeing succession coming through?

Succession and retirement were definitely factors, Newbold said.

Also, returns in rural New Zealand had been very strong, he said.

"So when you look at it like that, people have sat back and gone, hey, we're getting good prices, the values are there, maybe it's time to move on."

Other vendors were looking at compliance costs and seeing that as a reason to sell, he said.

High demand was also an obvious market stimulant, according to Newbold.

The discussion then turned to horticulture and Newbold pointed out there had been a slow start to the season with very wet and cold weather in parts.

Listen below:

The next two to six weeks would reveal where values sat, but there was still strong demand in the kiwifruit sector, he said.

Duncum asked about the high demand for grazing blocks.

Newbold said there were two competing forces at work here; traditional farmers looking to increase their land holding with extra grazing and a lot of people looking for a taste of rural New Zealand as a lifestyle choice.

Grazing blocks were a way to ease into that lifestyle by running a few sheep or cattle while staying relatively close to town and this space was sure to grow, he said.

Newbold hoped things would settle down and the next generation of young farmers would still be able to get into the industry.