Trophy farms return to the market at ‘realistic’ prices
Agents are having a fresh go at selling trophy farms and rural retreats in southern NSW after prominent vendors including communications veteran Robbie Sefton and former NSW politician Michael Yabsley cut their asking prices to meet the market.
Returning to the market with a price guide of $17 million to $19 million is Bramaer, a 1870-hectare mixed-farming property that has been owned by Ms Sefton, the founder of Tamworth-based communications and advisory firm Seftons, and her husband, Alistair Yencken, since 2007.
Bramaer, run as a wool and prime lamb operation alongside cropping, was put on the market in August 2022 with an asking price of more than $20 million. The property was under contract a year ago, but failed to settle.
It is now being offered by Sam Triggs, Jamie Inglis and Liam Griffiths of Inglis Rural Property alongside James Hall and Darren Curtis of Christie’s International Real Estate.
Located 35 kilometres north of Tamworth, Braemar includes a refurbished 1900 homestead with wraparound bluestone verandah set in parkland-style gardens. There are a further four refurbished residences on the property, including a historic Cobb & Co coach house.
Mr Triggs said rural property pricing had come off 10-15 per cent from the “bell-ringer” sales of the past few years.
“The market is slower. There’s a bit of a stand-off between vendors and buyers,” he said.
At the new price guide, Mr Triggs said Braemar represented value for money, “particularly when compared with similar sized properties in southern NSW and areas of Victoria”.
Ms Sefton, who was named a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia as part of 2023 Australia Day Honours, founded communications and advisory firm Seftons in 1990. She also sits on the boards of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Watertrust Australia.
Inglis Rural is also having a fresh go at selling Wombat Hollow, the Southern Highlands retreat that was the family home of former NSW state politician and Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley and his ex-wife Susie Yabsley.
The 8ha East Kangaloon property, which includes a four-bedroom stone house and a one-bedroom cottage on the Nepean River, was on the market last year with $10 million hopes. It now has an $8 million price guide.
“The market is the market – it goes up and down,” Mr Yabsley told The Australian Financial Review on Sunday. “But if it’s going down it’s from a very high base.”
Inglis Rural’s Mr Griffiths said while the Southern Highlands had experienced an “enormous uplift in values” during the 2020-22 COVID-19 period, 2023 had been a time of “new price discovery” with values having decreased 5 to 10 per cent.
Mr Griffiths said the outlook for 2024 was as a year of price stabilisation. “Chinese interest has disappeared, but expat interest has grown significantly in the last 12-18 months,” he said.
East Kangaloon, about 20 kilometres east of Bowral, is home to about 50 homes, and counts Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes among its home owners. Mr Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie (the couple separated last year) own the hamlet’s most expensive property, Widgee Waa, which they bought for $15 million in 2019.
The Yabsleys purchased Wombat Hollow in 1997 for just $606,000. As well as a family home, it also functioned as an events space, hosting the eclectic Wombat Hollow Forum. It is now offered as luxury accommodation.
Mr Yabsley, who held a number of ministerial posts in Nick Greiner’s Liberal government in NSW in the late 1980s and early 1990s, separated from his wife in 2019.
“Our family circumstances have changed and it’s a good time to be selling,” he said.
Another trophy estate in southern NSW returning to the market is Rhyanna Park, a luxury homestead retreat and livestock property set on 275ha near Goulburn.
When previously listed for sale in 2022 no price guide was given. It is now being sold by Mr Griffiths (whose family owns the property) and Mr Triggs of Inglis Rural, alongside Justin Gay of Ray White Goulburn, with a price guide of more than $10 million.
Rhyanna Park features a modern six-bedroom homestead with heated swimming pool and 2ha of manicured gardens. The surrounding countryside is suited to carrying livestock.
Mr Griffiths said Rhyanna Park had attracted a lot of interest from Sydney buyers “chasing value relative to Southern Highlands with an element of commercial scale”.
