‘Massive result': Local farmers pay $9.4m for historic estate
A historic pastoral holding less than an hour’s drive from Canberra has sold almost $1 million above vendor expectations to a family from Taree, highlighting the level of appetite in the market for blue-chip farmland.
The 2452-hectare Mayfield Estate at Larbert, 25 kilometres north-west of Braidwood, which dates back to the 1830s, sold for $9.4 million after five formal offers were made for the property.
“It exceeded everyone’s expectation. It was a massive result, We were hoping to get around $7.5 million to $8.5 million,” said Dan Woodford from PRD Nationwide Bungendore, who marketed Mayfield Estate alongside Angus Macleod from Colliers International.
“The market in general, and agriculture, is strong. Cattle prices are great. Sheep prices are great. Proximity to Canberra was another biggie.”
He said the buyers were cattle farmers from Taree. “They own a couple of other farms and are expanding,” He declined to name the buyers.
Originally part of the pioneering Roberts family’s Braidwood district holdings, Mayfield Estate sold unstocked but with an estimated carrying capacity of 4000-5000 dry sheep equivalents and suitable for both cattle and sheep.
The estate includes a renovated six-bedroom homestead with a library and billiards room built around 1900, two hectares of rejuvenated English-inspired gardens, a swimming pool, grass tennis court and two renovated cottages.
It, was offered for sale by AO Farm Holding, a Chinese investment and development company with interests in farming and commercial property.
Company searches show AO Farm Holding is a subsidiary of Sydney Resources Investment, the parent company of Sydney-based wealth management and advisory firm Sankofa Funds Management, which has land estate projects in Larbert, the Hunter Valley and Port Stephens.
Sankofa, led by Winston Bai, also completed a $62 million apartment project in the Hornsby CBD in northern Sydney with 100 units in 2015.
Mr Woodford said Mayfield Estate was sold to fund work on one of the group’s subdivision projects.
Records show AO Farm Holding paid $3.6 million for Mayfield Estate in 2016, when it was bought from the Balmain family.
According to title deeds, the property was secured by a mortgage to the late Andrew Balmain and to Petrina Balmain.
