Ruawai sells for $2m over its valuation

A four-stand shearing shed is among the farm's many buildings. Photo / Supplied

A Puketapu farm with a ratings valuation of $3.016 million has sold for $5 million.

Ruawai, 487ha with a four-bedroom house and two titles, has been in the Kyle family since the 1940s.

Colliers International agent Mike Heard said its location, 15 minutes from Taradale, and potential for intensification were factors in the sale price.

There were 46 viewings of the property and tenders received were in double figures, he said.

Ruawai features a wide range of terrain.

"The numbers of tenders were exceptional.

"It is a lovely balanced property with 100ha of very good terraced flats and some nice rolling country.

"It has a good home there, a bit dated but it is solid on a sheltered site, and it has been in the family since 1948."

While there was a good amount of overseas interest, he said it was sold to a Hawke's Bay buyer that intended to farm it as a sheep and beef grazing operation. It was traditionally used as a medium-scale sheep and beef breeding and finishing unit, wintering about 4000 stock units.

The Dartmoor Rd property has a good range of supplementary buildings, including a four-stand woolshed, various sheep and cattle yards, hay barns, and is well subdivided with conventional fences.

Water is reticulated from a bore and supplemented with dams, creeks and springs - the trout-filled Mangaone Stream runs along the western boundary and joins the Tutaekuri River.

The sale is the end of an era.

Returned serviceman Ed Kyle won the area in the farm ballot system after World War II and cleared it of scrub.

He sold the milk and cream to supplement the farm income - the original milking bail and machinery still exists near the house - but high wool prices in the late 1950s enabled further subdivision and an increase of productive land.

An adjoining 135ha was purchased in the 1980s.

Last month, 1400ha Central Hawke's Bay sheep and beef station Oueroa sold for $7.8 million.