ot: comp.willing to pay double the land value

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/companies-willing-to-pay-double-the-land-value/story-fn59niix-1226118447395

MINERS are boosting rural property prices across the board, with resource giants generally paying more than double market value.

Acquisitions are being made in Queensland's Bowen and Surat basin areas and NSW's Gunnedah Basin and the Liverpool Plains.

Bob Dupont, chief executive of Newcastle valuation firm PRP Australia, said mining companies were paying double the market rates for land when by law had to offer more than 10 per cent above valuation.

He sited a deal where a mining company paid $11,000 a hectare on land with a valuation of $4000 a hectare.

"Generally, it is farmland. Some of it is just scrub," he said.

And there was a flow-on affect to the broader rural community. Cashed-up vendors bought property broadly within the area, so the offers were having a positive flow-on affect across the rural market, he said.

"If they can buy outside the mining area, they will pay a little bit more for it," he said, but farmers were not prepared to move about 200km away.

Mining giants were offering about 1 1/2 times the price of land that was to be used as a buffer zone.

Coal-seam gas companies mostly buy access for their wells rather than the land.