Huggins family sell Willah at Balmoral in $25m-plus deal

A premier Balmoral farm has been sold by a Riverina farming family in one of the biggest Victorian sales of the year.

A blue-ribbon farm in western Victoria has been offloaded in what is believed to be one of the state’s biggest farm deals so far this year.

The highly regarded 2085ha Willah grazing and cropping property at Balmoral has been sold by Steve and Carol Huggins, prominent Merino breeders from Hay in the NSW Riverina, to a private farming family.

It is understood the deal was worth at least $25 million.

The Huggins family purchased Willah in April 2019, expanding into western Victoria in as drought struck the western Riverina. However with improved conditions across the NSW border, they decided to sell Willah to consolidate their holdings and their Woodpark Poll stud.

CBRE’s David Goodfellow, Matt Childs and Shane McIntyre, together with South Australia’s TDC Property’s Tom Pearce and Guy Robertson, brokered the deal.

Mr Pearce said there was “strong” interest in the market for Willah. “We worked with a mixture of institutional investors and private established farming families and the interest was reflected in the offers,” he said. “We worked with a mixture of institutional investors and private established farming families and the interest was reflected in the offers.”

Woodpark Poll Merinos owners Steve and Carol Huggins from Hay. Picture: Andy Rogers

The transaction is expected to settle in the coming days.

Willah was listed for sale in May with price expectations of about $13,000-$14,000 a hectare.

The farm has a carrying capacity of 22,000 dry sheep equivalents (or 11.5 DSE a hectare), with 85 per cent (1770ha) considered arable and more than 95 per cent (1980ha) suitable for grazing.

Willah also has reliable 615mm average annual rainfall and falls in the Southern Grampians region, which is home to some of Victoria’s most valuable farmland.

Willah at Balmoral was listed for sale in May with price expectations of about $13,000-$14,000 a hectare.

Mr Pearce said with the spring property season on the horizon significant buyer confidence remained in the market.

“We had a bit of uncertainty with FMD (foot and mouth disease) and interest rates but ahead of spring that confidence is still there,” he said.

“Retirement and succession planning is likely to bring those premium farms to the market.

“They are still going to be the priority for buyers and buyers will be willing to pay for the reliability those farms offer.”