Before this his company, National Water Traders, specialised solely in farm and irrigation assessment and advice.

Yet due to uncertainty over government water sharing plans, Mr Hyson drew on his 16-year experience with the NSW Department of Agriculture to make his six-staff company "a real estate agency for water licences".

Mr Hyson said he was concerned real estate agents were handling most of the area's water licence transfers.

He said he had found some real estate agencies such as Moree's Bruce Gunning and Associates were recognised to have a vast knowledge of water licensing, but there were many others who might not know all the ins and outs.

"A gripe I have, which some agents might not know about, is that the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources takes a lengthy period to process licences," Mr Hyson said.

"A farmer might spend say $300,000 on a licence to find that they are unable to access

the water for six months

because of red tape."

Mr Hyson said National Water Traders planned to establish a database of recent water transfers given that a registry did not exist.

"People can't gain an exact price. It has been of a hearsay nature where some farmers might say 'I heard someone got $700/ML' while others might say no it was more like $2000, which is rubbish," Mr Hyson said.

"I can tell you that two years ago water in the Peel sold for $250 per megalitre whereas the last sale of a licence in the Peel catchment was at a going rate of $680," Mr Hyson said.

He said the price for a megalitre of water in the Namoi catchment was about $1650, while prices were above $2000 in the Gwydir catchment.

Mr Hyson said he had advised clients to be wary when advertising their farms for sale.

To make property saleable it might be better to separate the land and water, he said.

For example, he said if a farm couldn't sell for $1 million, it would be better for the property owner to advertise the water for $400,000 and the land for $600,000.

On Saturday National Water Traders advertised its first tender for the sale of 400ML of water. Mr Hyson said the interest had been strong.