Developers' offers top $20m record for dairy-farm land

The $20 million record sale of an 80ha dairy farm south of Whangarei could be eclipsed as developers scramble to pay even more for the industrial-zoned block.

The agent who sold the farm has had "keen interest" from six other potential buyers wanting to pay more than $25 million for the block.

Peter Jennings, sales manager at Maxwells Real Estate at Albany, said this week a $2 million deposit had been put down unconditionally for the 80ha and the remaining $18 million was due in December.

In the meantime, developers and land-bankers were offering much more.

This week, dairy farmer Roger Pyle, on holiday in north Queensland, said his One Tree Pt dairy farm was not on the market when the $20 million offer was made.

The farm near Marsden Point, on the south side of Whangarei Harbour, has an industrial zoning, which makes it highly desirable to developers.

 

Real Estate Institute vice-president Murray Cleland said this could be the most expensive dairy land sold, although soaring prices for Marlborough vineyards had set new records nationally.

In April, multinational wine company Allied Domecq was reported as paying $5.6 million for 28.2ha of Marlborough grape land.

Pyle said the price he got was not out of step with other sales in the area, particularly a neighbour's 37ha property, which fetched $6 million last year.

But Jennings said Pyle's farm was the most expensive sale he knew of, partly because of its location and zoning. The farm was only about 2km from Marsden Port and on the main road between State Highway One and the port area.

Jennings said he had sold $56 million of land in the Bream Bay area in the past three years and had contracts on sales worth $36 million.

Higher and higher

* The national house price sale record was set in April last year when Barry and Emma McCollam's Takapuna beachfront mansion sold for $12.78 million.
* Last June, a 31.5ha property at Karaka in south Auckland sold for $14 million.
* A 34ha Waiheke Island farm at Cowes Bay went on the market this year for $26 million.