Emily Mendham

The rural rebound and changes in rural property ownership: Trends, challenges and opportunities for natural resource management.

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Emily’s research involves the analysis of property sales records, survey data, and semi-structured interviews in two case study regions in Victoria to predict future rates of property turn over.

Up to 50% of properties surveyed are predicted to change hands in the next 10 years, double previous rates. New property owners are significantly different from longer-term owners, and many are absentee owners and amenity buyers. Newer and longer-term owners are significantly different in terms of their values, attitudes, levels of knowledge and management practices, although they share important similarities which point to effective ways in which to engage this new cohort.

Emily’s research falls into the CRC’s Program 4 research area.

Objectives:

• Determine past rates and predict future rates of rural property turnover in the Wimmera and Corangamite Catchments of Victoria
• Determine the relative importance of rural property turnover in explaining land use change, and whether this differs across different contexts
• Explore the extent these trends can be understood using concepts such as the multi-functional rural transition (Holmes 2006).

For more information, email Emily.