Cobran West, Braemar, Meering West: Best farms for sale this spring

Several blue-ribbon farms have hit the market ahead of a spring selling season expected to be defined by strong demand and tight supply.

Buoyed by another season of favourable conditions and relatively solid commodity prices, Australian rural property remains in strong demand as the traditional spring selling season kicks off.

Farm values are tipped to stay close to historically high levels in the coming months with the number of properties for sale across southeastern Australia in short supply.

Elders head of agribusiness investment services Mark Barber said farm supply was likely to remain tight with many owners wanting to hold on to their land.

“I expect most property owners will want to take full advantage of the exceptional seasonal and commodity market conditions and continue to operate into 2023,” Mr Barber said.

“ I think in spring we’ll continue to see below average numbers of properties coming on to the market.

“I don’t expect the usual increase in properties coming onto the market in spring to go anyway to satisfying demand.”

goFARM Australia have made one of the most notable listings so far this spring, offering their Sunraysia cropping station with a price tag of about $20 million.

They are selling the 26,673ha Petro Station, located about 50km northeast of Mildura with offers tipped to be about double what they paid for it in 2018.

Four years ago the Australian-owned agricultural investor, developer and manager purchased Petro Station when it was a low-intensity grazing and cropping enterprise.

At the time goFARM paid $11.8 million for the farm, with $9 million of that for the land.

The highly-developed station is expected to attract interest from existing farming enterprises from across Victoria and NSW.

BEST FARMS FOR SALE THIS SPRING

COBRAN WEST, HAY, NSW (6750HA)

$25 million

Seller: Westchester Group of Australia (TIAA-CREF)

PETRO STATION, WENTWORTH, NSW (26,600HA)

$20 million

Seller: goFARM Australia

Westchester Group of Australia, via parent TIAA-CREF, are selling the Cobran West farm.

BRAEMAR, TAMWORTH, NSW (1800HA)

$20 million-plus

Seller: Alistair Yencken and Robbie Sefton

YALANDRO, BORDERTOWN, SA (1164HA)

$15 million-$17 million

Seller: Bill and Karon Dinning

ERIWAH AND GUM CREEK, CARRATHOOL, NSW (6103HA)

$10.5 million-plus

Seller: Cameron and Therese Townsend

IVANHOE, MEERING WEST, VIC (1300HA)

$9.5 million-plus

Seller: Alan and Helen Rothacker

With relatively strong balance sheets, Mr Barber said family farmers were still on the hunt for more land.

“Any property owners that do decide to sell in spring will see strong competition for their land,” he said.

Alan and Helen Rothacker are selling their 1300ha farm at Meering West.

“A number of larger family farms are looking for opportunities to expand their enterprises and acquire more land.

“Even with some upward pressure on interest rates, family farms still view agriculture as   the best place to invest.”

Corcoran Parker rural sales specialist Mike Weller said supply of farms for sale in the NSW eastern Riverina and Victoria’s North East was tight.

“On the supply side the commitment from the sellers to actually list their farms for sales is not there,” he said.

“Commodity prices are very buoyant across livestock and grains and I think a lot of farmers are happy to capitalise on that.

“On the buy-side the demand is still there for quality farms, but they also are a little bit more cautious.”