Ford family’s Baringhup farms fail to sell through auction

Three farms spanning more than 1300ha combined near Bendigo have failed to sell through auction, in a subdued start to the spring selling season.

The first major rural property offering of the spring selling season remains on the market after a 1340ha central Victorian farm failed to sell through auction on Friday.

Listed for sale by the Ford family company in July this year, their three-farm Baringhup aggregation was auctioned at the Campbells Creek Community Centre at 11.30am on September 1 in front of a crowd of about 50 onlookers.

When the property was listed for sale earlier this year, it was expected to receive offers worth about $19.5 million as a whole.

However on Friday there were no bids from the floor as the aggregation was passed in as a whole and is now for private sale.

The Ford family’s Baringhup aggregation was passed in on a vendor bid of $10,875 a hectare ($4400 an acre), for a total of $14.647 million, a figure well below the initial price guide.

The Ford family’s Baringhup farms fail to sell through auction on September 1.

The three parcels, Lisoux (685ha), Denning Rise (350ha) and Hillside (311ha), were all also offered for sale via auction individually, but they each failed to register a bid from the floor and were passed in.

Lisoux was passed in on a vendor bid of $11,860 a hectare ($4800 an acre) while Denning Rise and Hillside were passed in on vendor bids of $11,613 a hectare ($4700 an acre) and $11,119 a hectare ($4500 an acre) respectively.

Nutrien Harcourts Bendigo selling agent Alister Kemp said there was “lukewarm” interest in the property during the marketing campaign.

“We are now in a changing market, buyers are a lot more cautious,” Mr Kemp said.

“Interest rates are higher and the returns for sheep, wool and mutton are not there at the moment compared to last year.”

Mr Kemp said with reduced confidence in the market, buyers were more likely to attend the auction to observe and then pursue a potential sale privately.

The Ford family have predominantly run a Merino operation on their Baringhup aggregation.

During more than 35 years of ownership the Ford family has run mainly Merino sheep on the property, located about 37km southwest of Bendigo.

“Options include livestock, wool growing, fattening and hay and cropping to mention a few,” vendor Mark Ford said.

A combination of rising interest rates, softening commodity prices and an unfavourable seasonal outlook for much of the nation has caused the buyer pool for Australian farmland to shrink from the dizzying highs of the rural property boom in recent years.

Rural Bank head of agribusiness development Andrew Smith recently said the desire from some buyers for Australian farmland had decreased this year, particularly in the sheep, cattle and wool sectors.