Leading residential real estate group, McGrath Estate Agents, has earmarked one of Australia’s most diverse and productive agricultural regions in south-west New South Wales, The Riverina, for future growth.

Chris Mourd, Head of Franchise for McGrath, said, “This vast region has a number of thriving towns and villages that offer a wide selection of residential, commercial, industrial, lifestyle and broadacre properties and lifestyle amenities to service their population.

“We are delighted to have partnered with one of the most respected and long-standing key operators in the Riverina, Bev and Craig Pellow to bring our offering, technology and marketing to the region for the benefit of their business and as a result, deliver unmatched outcomes for their clients. As principals of McGrath Riverina Group, they will have four McGrath branded offices located in Temora, Narrandera, Coolamon and Leeton.”

Mr Mourd explains the Riverina benefits from irrigation from the Murray and Murrumbidgee River catchments, and as such the area’s fertile soil produces a wide range of crops from grapes (for wine), rice, wheat, canola and citrus as well supporting a healthy grazing industry.

“Wagga Wagga is considered the gateway to the Riverina, and well positioned centrally between Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and providing important infrastructure to the region including Kapooka (Army Training Centre), Charles Sturt University, as well as a healthy manufacturing sector predominately centred on agricultural engineering.

“Importantly the Riverina region has a well-stablished transport network, including major highways, rail lines and airports, which makes it easy to access major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. This connectivity has been vital to the region’s economic growth and makes it attractive for new businesses and industries to relocate to the area. We see that has a real drawcard for the real estate market going forward.”

Mr Mourd said McGrath has identified regional expansion as a key focus for the brand as evidenced by its growing presence in NSW regional hubs that include Central Tablelands, Hunter Valley, Orange, Bathurst, Molong, Cooma and Albury.

“Our confidence in regional NSW has been confirmed by CoreLogic’s data where they report that regional housing markets have mostly shown firmer housing conditions with the combined regionals index rising 0.2% over the month. We have long seen a shift from seachange to tree-change as working from home in affordable lifestyle areas have gained appeal. CoreLogic reports that intoday’s market it is mainly rural areas that are seeing the strongest increases, rather than the commutable coastal and lifestyle markets that were booming through the upswing. However, we are seeing some subtle growth return to regions within commuting distance of the major capitals, after many recorded a sharp drop in values.” *

The McGrath Riverina Group with Bev and Craig Pellow at its helm, will run a team of 25. Craig himself has worked in the Stock and Station industry for over 25 years and is well known within the local market. He, along with his wife Bev, and two sons Andrew and Lachlan, expanded their business to establish well regarded brand QPL, operating in their local markets for the past 13 years. As a family led business they have methodically extended their offering to residential sales, leasing, commercial, stock and station.

Craig Pellow explains, “We are thrilled to transition our residential and rural business to McGrath, however the stock and station operation will continue remain as QPL. As a family run business, we felt we needed to partner with a strong and respected brand to achieve our desire to grow.

“We’ve observed over time that McGrath has partnered with some very strong market leaders in the rural space, and we are both excited and confident that we will benefit greatly from the scale of their network reach, as will our clients. Their professionalism, customer service and focus on delivery, has made them an industry leader with a seamless approach to transacting real estate.”

Mr Pellow adds, “We are so proud of what we have achieved as QPL in recent years, but we are exciting to show our clients what we can do by partnering with McGrath and having access to their innovation and expertise across multiple channels that we would otherwise be unable to easily access.”

The Pellow family have set many sales records for both residential and rural sales. Recent rural sales include 799 Sandy Camp Road, Quambone –for $11 million; 9614 Merri Merri Road, Quambone –for $5,427,300.

Recent residential sales include 187 Dellapool Road, Sandiago - 4 bedroom, 2 bath home on 35.3ha for $1,431,550; and 400 Petersham Road, Leeton – 5 bedroom, 2 bath home on 3.23ha for $955,00.

McGrath Riverina Group will have over rent-roll of 520 properties under management.

*CoreLogic Home Value Index – April 2023