DESPITE a year of difficult market conditions, rural property agents by and large sold most of their advertised "big ticket" listings, leaving only a handful as carryover into 2014.
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More about those later, but first it's worth recording some of the significant sales of properties previewed in The Land that were wrapped up in the latter part of 2013.
Of these, the most noteworthy is that of the "Collaroy" aggregation in the Upper Hunter, offered for sale by tender in October by Landmark for the Forgacs family of Newcastle.
Although no official announcement has been made, it's understood the properties were sold in two tranches, comprising "Collaroy"/"Wynola" of 4026ha and "Kuloo" of 3098ha.
The buyer of "Collaroy"/"Wynola" at Merriwa has not been identified, but "Kuloo" at Cassilis was bought by Garry and Susan Rothwell as an extension of their "Dabee"/"Fern- side" cattle breeding operation at Rylstone.
No prices have been disclosed, but the combined offering - capable of carrying 1500 breeders - had been expected to attract offers above $15 million.
Another major sale wrapped up just before Christmas was that of Carwell Station at Coonamble, advertised for sale earlier in the year by the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW.
Bought in 2009 by the trust and subsequently assessed for its conservation values, the 8071ha mixed farming property was listed for sale at $5.225m and has sold for an undisclosed price.
The onetime Merino stud property will revert to commercial agricultural use, but with covenants now protecting its valuable native grasslands and remnant woodlands.
At Tamworth, Daniel McCulloch of Davidson Cameron and Company reports the private sale post-auction of "Mornington", the well-known Moore Creek property of the Latimer family.
Offered at auction on November 27 and passed in on a bid of $3.2m, the 548ha mixed farming property with its grand Federation homestead was sold later for an undisclosed higher figure to the losing bidders, the Greenaway family of Collarene- bri.
Another significant northern NSW sale was that of Hillgrove Station east of Armidale, listed in July by Geoff Leedham of Landmark Armidale for sale by tender.
Owned for 30 years by Graham and Jenette Green, the 799ha grazing property - previously a research station for the veterinary chemical company Merck Sharp and Dohme - was bought by Hillgrove Mines for a reported $2.96m.
A Central West mixed farming property listed originally for sale by the owner in 2011 and re-offered last August, "Bowyangs" at Cudal, has been sold privately to nearby landholders.
Priced at $3m, it was sold for an undisclosed slightly lower figure by Len Bailey Real Estate of Orange in conjunction with Bargwanna and Gerrard of Young.
The 742ha Mandagery Creek property, of which about half is arable, was carrying 2500 crossbred ewes plus cattle and comes with a refurbished brick homestead and extensive shedding.
At Rylstone, the well-known "Umbiella", in the Capertee Valley, held since 1920 by the Thorne family, has been sold after being passed in at auction by Elders on November 7.
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Listed privately then at $3.45m, the 1920ha property was sold for an undisclosed price to John Knox of Mudgee and his wife Helen (nee Thorne), thus continuing the Thorne ownership line.
Another post-auction sale of an historic Central West property was that of "Yamble Homestead", the 174ha lifestyle block near Goolma featuring the 1870s Gothic-style homestead of the former Yamble Station.
Put to auction in June without result, the property was later sold by Hugh Bateman of The Property Shop, Mudgee for $1.3m to longtime Mudgee residents, the Lovett family.
Meanwhile, investors looking to scoop up a commercial-scale rural property during the traditional January market hiatus period have a number of options available.
Listings carried over from 2013 range from intensive irrigation farms to highly-improved or natural grazing properties, broadacre cropping farms and western grazing runs.
Among the big-ticket listings are the Munro family's Boonal Station on the Border Rivers, and the Macintyre Station/Myall Creek Station duo at Inverell of former business mogul Fred Millar.
Several parties are understood to be circling the "Boonal" package, being marketed by Meares and Associates of Sydney either as a whole comprising 9871ha or in two portions, along with 7061ML of water entitlements.
The Millar properties, being marketed jointly by Webster Nolan of Sydney and Bob Jamieson Agencies of Inverell, represent two of the mixed farming "plums" on the Northern Slopes.
Well suited to multiple enterprises, they are listed privately for sale at asking prices of $25.5m for the 8000ha Macintyre Station and $12.5m for 4000ha Myall Creek Station.
Some of the richest "carryover" pickings are in the category of Eastern Fall cattle properties, of which five previewed last year in The Land were still unsold at the time of going to press.
