It is no secret that rural Australia has had a tough time of late. With the plethora of flash natural disasters experienced across the nation over the past few years, as well as extended periods of ongoing drought, it has been hard for our farmers to catch a break, as well as to encourage city-dwellers to consider a move inland.
Australia is an incredibly urbanised country, with approximately 82% of the Australian population living in major metropolitan regions (Source: Federalism and Regionalism in Australia – Rural Australia and the need for reform).
And with Australia's growing housing shortage and worsening affordability in our cities, our rural communities could be good options for people looking to relocate out of Australia's urban centres.
The attractiveness of these options was reinforced with the recent release of the Australian Commodities report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences which revealed that earnings from Australia's commodity exports are expected to rise by 14 per cent to a record $251 billion in 2011 – 12.
This is excellent news for the residential property market in rural Australia, where such strong expectations for our commodity markets could very well translate to solid growth in rural property prices and an increased demand for many rural homes.
It is my prediction that properties or rural homes that are in, or positioned close to, the areas that benefit the most from increased prices on world markets and bumper harvests, can expect to see the strongest growth in values.
There is a good possibility that the strength of Australia's commodity markets will see rising demand for rural real estate over the coming years, with farmers enlarging their current holdings, ex-rural based Australians returning to the country, and new players entering the market.
There is no doubt that most Australians appreciate the beauty of rural Australia. And with the state of housing affordability in our capital cities, it wouldn't surprise me at all if some people start to consider a move to the country. If commodity prices continue to improve, as we have seen predicted, they will act as further incentive for people to relocate to the fresh air and open spaces of rural Australia.