THE start of the new financial year has seen a range of banks force a dozen rural properties in Queensland to the market likely to reap at least $50 million.
On Friday a competitive of auction of more than 20 bids secured a $5.2 million acquisition of the 3100-hectare Hyland Downs at Clermont, central Queensland, which had been placed in receivership with Bentleys.
Ray White's Bruce Douglas said the sale price was a shock and showed interest had surged back into the market.
ANZ, which revealed in May it had $1.12 billion worth of non-performing loans in agriculture, has also pushed more properties into receivership.
A collection of cattle grazing properties covering 1238 hectares in the Boyne Valley was pushed to the market by the bank and will be auctioned as early as next week.
Elders' Kaye Pownall and Baden Lowrie are handling the sale of the five-property portfolio.
The bank also has Korda Mentha selling a 12,000-hectare farming aggregation in the Condamine formerly owned by Rowell Walton, who chaired Rural Finance Roundtable. A sales campaign being run through CBRE for the aggregation in the Western Downs area is likely to attract offers of about $15 million when it closes in a fortnight. Debbie Cowley, rural financial counsellor for Goondiwindi, said the financial pressure had not changed over the past five years since the financial crisis hit hard in 2009.
National Australia Bank has also been on the move, placing several major cattle stations in receivership, including the 45,200-hectare Corfield Downs north-east of Winton and the 31,200-hectare Strathdarr north of Longreach. Both properties were destocked last year and are now listed for sale. Corfield was bought at the top of the cattle market in 2008 for $13.8 million by the Milton family. Strathdarr, on the Darr River, was bought in 2001 for $2.3 million.
Brodie Agencies' Tom Brodie and Colliers International's Thomas Warriner and Rawdon Briggs are handling the properties' sale.
NAB has also appointed Ferrier Hodgson receiver Will Colwell to Currajong Station and properties Terrica and Pikedale, spanning 19,200 hectares of quality grazing country near Stanthorpe in southern Queensland. Elders has the listing.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's Rural Finance has appointed Ferrier Hodgson to the 5401-hectare Coronation Station south of Charters Towers. It could sell for up to $2 million, through Elders agent Lorin Bishop.
