Majors Creek and Nhill cropping farms fail to sell through auction

Victoria’s rural property market is cooling with multiple historic family farms receiving little bidding at auctions last week.

Two western Victorian family farms have failed to sell through auction as a veil of caution falls on family farmers looking to expand.

On Friday, the auction of the 478ha Majors Creek farm at Wando Bridge, 26km from Casterton, was met with silence as no bids were placed on the Dyble family’s property.

A crowd of about 40 people had gathered but the bidding never started for the farm, which had a price tag of about $8 million.

TDC Livestock and Property selling agent Tom Pearce said each farm was gathering varying levels of interest on the market at the moment.

“Property to property there’s a difference,” he said.

Majors Creek, at Wando Bridge, was passed in at auction without a bid.

“Buyers are weighing up if it is the right block that suits their needs.

“With quality properties, buyers are still willing to pay a good price.”

Mark and Rosemary Dyble have owned the southern portion of the property since 2015, adding the northern section a year later, where they have run about 250 Angus breeders, plus replacements, though numbers have peaked at 400 in the past.

Their farm was originally part of the old Warrock Homestead, founded in 1843 and recognised as one of Victoria’s most significant historical pastoral properties.

The quiet bidding came after several experts tipped farming family enterprises to be more conservative when purchasing more farmland as they feel the pinch of rising interest rates.

Meanwhile, in the Wimmera a 706ha cropping aggregation at Nhill is for private sale after it also failed to sell through auction.

The estate of the Barber family are selling their 706ha Nhill cropping aggregation.

The aggregation’s seven separate lots were all passed in, with the Barber family estate selling the farmland after owning it for about 150 years.

A crowd of about 60 people filled the Nhill Uniting Church, but there was little action as five of the properties failed to register a bid from the floor while Lot 7 (16ha) and Lot 2 (130ha) registered one bid each, with both later topped by vendor bids.

Each of the dedicated farming lots were ultimately passed in for figures about between $11,800 and $14,826 a hectare (about $4800 to $6000 an acre), while the smaller Lot 7 was passed in for about $300,000.