Riverfront Park, Karimba and Lower Skelbrook farms sold at auction

Five auctions across southern NSW and North East Victoria have returned mixed results, but one Gundagai farm achieved a huge price.

A series of rural property auctions across North East Victoria and southern NSW have returned mixed results, including a Gundagai farm that was snapped up for a premium price.

The 202ha Riverfront Park, located at Gocup about 25km south of Gundagai, was sold through auction for $7.25 million on Tuesday.

A neighbouring farming family secured the Tumut River backgrounding property with a winning bid equal to $35,830 a hectare.

In previous seasons the property has carried 300 cows and calves or fattened 500-600 steers twice a year.

Webster Nolan Real Estate director David Nolan said Riverfront Park’s 2.5km of Tumut River frontage and riverflats placed the property at premium price.

“Tumut River flats are hard to come by, they are basically self-watering or irrigated pastures without irrigation,” he said.

“When some Tumut River farmland comes on the market there is a real want to get hold of it and it usually sells for a premium.”

The 202ha Riverfront Park, located at Gocup about 25km south of Gundagai, was sold through auction for $7.25 million.

The Brothers, a 750ha grazing property at Nangus, 25 minutes west of Gundagai, was also offered via auction on Tuesday, but was passed in without a bid.

With an estimated carrying capacity of about 2000 crossbred ewes and lambs or 250 cows and calves, the property is for sale privately at $7.3 million.

Mr Nolan, who was also handling the listing of The Brothers, said he expected rural property values to remain steady for the foreseeable future.

“There is no doubt rural property values plateaued about six to eight months ago and I expect they will stay at this level for the next five to eight years if season conditions stay with us,” he said.

“For the right property the buyers are still there, but it must be correctly priced.”

Meanwhile, at Urana in the NSW Riverina, 688.8ha of predominantly cropping farmland has been sold through auction for $7.85 million combined.

Robert Mansell, who now resides in the USA, sold his property in three lots to three separate local and district buyers via auction earlier this month.

Robert Mansell has sold the 688.8ha Urana aggregation.

A 300ha portion of Karimba was sold for $2.901 million, or $9670 a hectare, while the remaining 130ha at Karimba was sold for $1.549 million, or $11,915 a hectare.

The nearby 259ha Lower Skelbrook was sold for $3.4 million, or about $13,127 a hectare.

Karimba and Lower Skelbrook had predominantly been used for cereal, oilseed, pulse and fodder cropping.

Across the border 434ha of North East Victorian grazing country failed to sell at auction, with negotiations continuing post-auction.

Phil Suggate and family’s Hillock, on the edge of Lake Hume at Tallangatta, was expected to receive offers worth $8 million-plus, but on Thursday it was passed in following no bids from the floor.

Phil Suggate and family listed their 434ha grazing property, Hillock, for sale this spring.

Finally, the Gaden family’s 3383ha Lockerbie property, located at Dunedoo about 90km east of Dubbo, was also passed in through auction this month.

The property was passed in on a vendor bid of $12.5 million and is now for sale privately.

The original part of Lockerbie was acquired by the Gaden family in 1926 and subsequently added to in 1964 and 1991 to create the current substantial and contiguous Lockerbie that stands today.

During their tenure the family have run a renowned livestock, Merino sheep breeding, wool growing and fattening enterprise estimated to carry approximately 13,000-14,000 dry sheep equivalent.