Mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture has sold Nerrima Station for more than $30 million, and a further two pastoral stations Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek.
Nerrima Station has sold to Johnathan Emanuel whilst Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek station were snapped up by Viv Oldfield.
The 203,000ha Nerrima Station, 480,000ha Ruby Plains and 316,000ha Sturt Creek in Western Australia’s Kimberley region were put on the market after Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co revealed in November last year plans to sell its pastoral holdings comprising eight properties spanning 1.9 million hectares.
The other five properties are the 550,000ha Riveren and Inverway, the 147,000ha Aroona Station and the adjoining 171,000ha Willeroo Station – all west of Katherine in the Northern Territory.
The sales were handled by Elder’s Greg Smith.
Nerrima is a large beef breeding and fattening station located in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia – featuring frontage to the Fitzroy River. It has a carrying capacity of 15,445 heads of Brahman/Red Angus composite breed herd.
Occupying 796,134 hectares and located 57km south of Halls Creek, Ruby Plains and Sturt Creek are operated as a single station. The breed station has a carrying capacity of 25,636 heads.
The property also has a Royal Flying Doctors Service approved airstrip.
Meanwhile Australia’s rural and agricultural market shows no signs of slowing.
The latest transactions underscore investors’ strong appetite for agricultural properties, driven by rising land values and stable income streams, bolstered by high commodity prices, which has bolstered farmland returns.
Cattle property investment firm Packhorse Pastoral Company recently launched its second fund raising as it seeks to buy up $1.5 billion worth of rural and agricultural land.
The latest quarterly Australian Farmland Index from the Asian Association for Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (ANREV) showed income contributed 5.33% and appreciation return 9.36% to the total.
On a quarter-by-quarter basis, total return was 8.82%, driven mostly by capital growth at 7.16% while income return contributed 1.66%.
Rabobank expects these key drivers will continue.
The latest ABARES report said Australia’s agricultural production is anticipated to reach a record gross value of $73.0 billion in 2021-22, breaking the $70 billion mark for the first time in history.
