Two NSW farms fetch $20m-plus combined through auctions
An 809ha farm owned by one family for 120 years was snapped up by neighbours in an eight-figure deal, while a hedge fund billionaire has sold a 630ha holding.
A tightly held family farming cropping property on the Moree Plains of northwest NSW has changed hands after selling for an eight-figure sum through auction.
Alistair and Penny Jones have ended 120 years of family ownership of the 809ha Kalua property, located at Pallamallawa, 42km northeast of Moree.
Offered for sale through auction the property was sold to a neighbouring farming family with a winning bid of $13.6 million, or the equivalent of $16,810 a hectare.
Winter crops including 597ha of barley and 155ha of faba beans were also included in the sale.
On the day, bidding began at $10 million before rising to the winning bid with three active bidders participating in the auction.
When Kalua was listed for sale, offers worth $12,500 and $15,000 an arable hectare were expected.
Moree Real Estate agents Terry Adams and Paul Kelly handled the sale of Kalua and said strong seasonal conditions had given local growers confidence for the season ahead.
“It is a tightly held area and you don’t see land in this area come up very often,” Mr Adams said.
“The season is shaping up really well, it was a bit wet during planting and it’s only early, but the crops are fantastic, but there’s still a long way to go.”
For this season Kalua is planted to 752ha on self-mulching clay soils suited to both summer and winter crops.
Meanwhile, two hours south of Pallamallawa, the farming enterprise of an Aussie expat hedge fund billionaire has sold a 632ha property in the Namoi Valley through auction.
London-based Lord Michael Hintze, via his MH Premium Farms, has sold the property, Molleen, located 2km southwest of Wee Waa, through auction on Wednesday where it fetched $7.8 million under the hammer.
Six parties registered to bid on Molleen, with bidding starting at $5 million before climbing to a winning offer, equivalent to $12,342 a hectare.
It is understood a farming family based in the NSW Namoi Valley have acquired the property, adding it to their existing landholdings and water portfolio in the region.
Molleen comprises 257ha of flood irrigation, 211ha of dryland farming and 600ML of on-farm storage.
Molleen has 202ML of Lower Namoi groundwater with 606ML in account, and 193.1ML of Lower Namoi regulated supplementary B class river water.
A 468ha winter wheat crop was included in the sale. Nutrien Harcourts NSW agent James Thomas handled the sale.
The property is one of several Lord Hintze has offloaded in the past year or so including the 7600ha Warrane, located 18km northwest of Armidale, which was sold to Origin Energy for $41 million.
Victorian, Tassie farms snapped up in trio of deals
Two Victorian farms and one in Tasmania have changed hands in three separate deals worth about $25 million combined.
$250 million tipped for massive cropping portfolio
More than 23,500ha of farmland spanning 21 properties on the NSW-Qld border has hit the market in the largest rural property listing so far this year.