EXCLUSIVE: Renowned sixth generation cattle and sheep farmer, and wind farm developer Peter Downie has quietly bought one of the Apple Isle’s historic farms in the largest single asset transaction in Tasmania in recent memory.

Industry sources told Australian Property Journal, that Downie has acquired Stonehouse Grazing in Lemont, from farmer Tony Seymour for $46 million.

According to the source, Seymour has sold Stonehouse Grazing to Downie on a walk-in-walk out basis.

“The deal was done off the market.” the source said.

The $46 million sale is one of the highest prices paid for a single property, of any type, in Tasmania in recent times – since Charter Hall’s acquisition $50.3 million acquisition of the ANZ Centre office building in Hobart’s CBD from businessman and property developer Robert Rockefeller in December 2018.

A few months later the US-born Rockefeller teamed up with the Newton and Farrell families to buy Hobart’s MACq 01 Hotel for $50 million – below developer Vos Group’s expectations of $60 million and significantly under the $80 million valuation by the Tasmania Valuer-General at the end of 2018.

Located in the Tasmania’s pristine Northern Midlands and Southern Midlands in the Central region, Stonehouse Grazing is a historic 18500-acre farm, a wool and livestock enterprise running about 15,000 sheep.

Downie has deep roots in Tasmania’s farming community, his family has grazed sheep and cattle for over 150 years. He also owns the Dungrove Station, a sheep, cattle, wool and sawlogs enterprise in Bothwell, in central Tasmania on the River Clyde.

The farmer is also a champion of biodiversity and has pioneered alternative ways to generate income from farms by embracing wind generation. He is a co-developer in the Cattle Hill Wind Farm.

This is the second major rural property and agribusiness transaction in Tasmania in less than a month after Melbourne-based Prime Value Asset Management acquired a portfolio of 11 farms from Chinese owner Van Dairy for more than $60 million.

In 2016 then Treasurer Scott Morrison approved the Chinese owned Moon Lake Investments’ $280 million acquisition of the dairy farms from the Tasmanian Land Company.

However, earlier this year Van Dairy Group was probed by the Environment Protection Agency after a leaked auditing report raised concerns about the farm’s management, while the Circula Head Council issued environment protection notices to Van Dairy in April this year requiring dairy effluent management improvements on nine farms.

The new owner Prime Value has pledged to work with EPA, Tasmanian Dairy Industry Authority and Circular Head Council to “transform these assets.”

Furthermore agribusiness identity David Williams bought Sorell Creek earlier this month, spanning 718 hectares on the Derwent River north of Hobart.

The Stonehouse Grazing transaction comes as the latest Rural Bank report shows Tasmanian farmland values soared further into record high territory as supply continues to tighten whilst demand shows no signs of abating.

According to the Rural Bank Australian Farm Values index, the median price per hectare jumped by 25.3% to $13,691 in 2020, after rising 11.1% in 2019.

The largest median price per hectare rise was recorded in the North West region which increased by 26.7%, followed by the Northern region with 21% from 2019. The South continued to follow a different trajectory with a 3.7% decline in median price per hectare in 2020.

Rural Bank Launceston’s Dean Lalor said strong commodity prices coupled with historically low interest rates, increased confidence in the rural property market in 2020.

“However, farmland remained tightly held. The value of high surety irrigation land was recognised by buyers in the Northern and North West regions of the state. This led to a scenario whereby demand outstripped supply causing the value of farmland in these regions to increase sharply.

“Across the state, most properties were sold via a tender process or auction, resulting in a higher level of commitment from buyers to secure properties compared to previous years.” Lalor said.

According to the report, tight supply led to farmland transactions declining by 2.2% to 223. Transaction volume in 2020 was 18.6% lower than 2017 after a third consecutive year of decline, but only 4.6% below the 10-year average of 234 as the longer-term trend in transaction volume has been relatively stable.

Although an estimated 29,018 hectares of farmland changed hands last year, relatively unchanged from 2019, the total value skyrocketed by 43.1% to $321.4 million, the highest value since 2007 when there were over twice as many transactions.