Two south-west shires had most farmland transactions in Victoria in 2019: Rural Bank report

The Corangamite and Moyne shires even topped a list for most transactions in the state, a report released this week shows.

For newly established Illowa grazier John Gommers, the region's appeal was simple.

"Reliable rainfall, the beautiful fertile soils and accessibility to different markets for cattle and sheep," Mr Gommers said.

He bought a former south-west dairy farm last year to escape "raging drought" in Woods Point on the Murray River in South Australia.

"As time has gone on, river water prices became quite exuberant," Mr Gommers said.

"We started looking at options to get into reliable rainfall country."

The father-of-two said he also settled for the Warrnambool district to access schools and services.

"It's a real go-ahead area, where a lot of country areas are dying you can really feel the vibrancy here," Mr Gommers said.

"I'm happy to trade in the 45-degree days for a little bit of cooler weather."

The lush south-west paddocks are a far cry from the "green tinge" that lasted only four months in irrigation country across the border.

"It is some of the best country to grow grass on in Australia," Mr Gommers said.

'"What gave us more confidence was being coastal, we felt we were more protected from the seasonal variables.

"2018 was the worst drought in 100-plus years in the country we farmed."

A Rural Bank report shows 225 farms sold in 2019 across the Moyne, Corangamite and Glenelg shires, a 26 per cent increase from the 172 sold in 2018.

Meanwhile, Victoria's overall sales contracted 12 per cent.

The Rural Bank also says south-west land prices increased 16 per cent last year.

High rain fall, low interest rates and strong crop, beef and lamb prices in 2019 were behind one of the busiest years for land sales the region has had in a decade, according to a rural real estate agent.

Charles Stewart Real Estate Warrnambool branch director Nick Adamson said inquiries hadn't been as high since before the global financial crisis.

Mr Adamson said while drought-stricken farmers were among many buyers, south-west farmers were also taking opportunities to grow landholdings.

He said the most significant change was a surge in graziers and croppers buying south-west dairy farms.

"In the 20-plus of years of selling real estate historically I have seen grazing farms converted to dairying," Mr Adamson said.

"But in the past 12 months there has been a trend reversing dairying to grazing due to the high commodity prices.

"Since the new calendar year, that has slowed down a bit, because dairy farms have become more profitable with the higher milk prices."

In a sign of the times, Mr Gommers plans to use the former dairy on his Illowa farm as a feeding pad for his 200 breeder cattle.

"The tough period the dairy industry has to a certain degree suppressed dairy land prices and brought them back inline with grazing and cropping prices," he said.

"We weren't locked in geographically where we were to move, and settled on this to be the ideal place to be. It's nice to think there are a few more than just me thinking the same thing."

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