Forced sales are peppering the rural property market around Australia as farm operators feel the heat from anxious bankers.
And real estate agents and insolvency experts expect there are more to come.
"This is only just the start," Adelaide-based Colliers International director of rural agribusiness Phil Schell said.
"Bankers are ringing us and asking how the buyers' market is going.
"There hasn't been a proper spring for four years in some places. Banks are saying to farmers, 'You guys have to reduce our debt'."
Landmark South Australia and Northern Territory real estate manager Simon McIntyre said the trend was not apparent yet in SA.
"Many still have harvest to finish off and then may have their financial positions reviewed in January/February," he said.
"If a pattern was to emerge, it would probably become evident at that time."
Earlier this year, insolvency firm PPB estimated there was $1.5 billion worth of farms under various degrees of financial stress because of drought and debt.
* Extract from a full report in Stock Journal, November 20 issue.
Email a friend