Woods family sell Lockdale, near Dubbo NSW, for almost $10m

A tightly-held central NSW broadacre farming operation has been sold with an Aussie buyer splashing a near-record price to secure the property.

A tightly-held central NSW farm has sold under the hammer, with a local family offloading their premier holding to an Aussie farmer.

For the first time in 93 years, the 1236ha Lockdale farm at Narromine was sold yesterday in a deal worth almost $10m.

Ray White Rural Dubbo principal Brian McAneney said in a race between seven registered bidders, it was a South Australian farmer who secured the land with a price of $9.95m.

A price of around $8050 per hectare was the winning bid for the broadacre cropping land - well above initial expectations of around $6500 per ha.

Mr McAneney said the sale was one of the highest prices paid in the region on record.

“The result is possibly one of the strongest sales in the district,” he said.

“The farm was put on the market with an expected price of around $9.5m so it was a fantastic result.

For the first time in 93 years, the Lockdale farm has been sold.

“The buyer is a farming family, originally from South Australia, who has also purchased land in the district over the last 12 months as they expand their holdings.

“It is great to see the good value for the broadacre farming country in the region.”

Mr McAneney said interest in the farm came from local, Victorian and northern NSW farmers looking to expand their holdings as land values continue to rise.

The farm is located 40 minutes from Dubbo, and has been held by the Woods family for three generations, since 1929.

In the past, Lockdale vendors Craig and Kerry Woods farm 50 per cent of the arable land and fallow the balance.

Primarily wheat is grown and 150 trade steers are fattened. There are two sets of steel cattle yards on the property.

Recently, Canada’s love affair with Australian rural farmland continued with the PSP Investment group completing a $60m-plus deal to secure a prime piece of Australian cropping country.

Meanwhile, for the first time in more than 60 years a renowned Southern Riverina farming operation has changed hands with an Australian buyer securing the property in a deal worth at least $33m.