Southern Highlands dairy farm sells for $8.45m above reserve
A bidding war between two developers pushed the selling price of a former Southern Highlands dairy farm $8.45 million over the reserve at an online action.
There were more than 90 bids for Parkleigh, a 53-hectare property at 157 Yarrawa Road, less than five kilometres from the Moss Vale town centre.
Having been called on the market when the $5 million reserve price was met, Parkleigh eventually sold for $13.45 million through the Sold Online platform.
While zoned for rural use and pitched as an opportunity for a new owner to build their dream country retreat with some livestock on the side, Parkleigh’s true value may lie as a future housing development.
Next to Parkleigh is a 124-hectare swathe of Southern Highlands countryside rezoned for residential subdivision that could support between 1200 and 1500 housing lots.
That site is owned by Hong Kong-listed Chinese development giant Aoyuan International, which paid $80 million for it in 2018.
Selling agent Shena Jackson of Jacksonwall confirmed Parkleigh had been acquired as a land bank but declined to identify either the buyer or vendor.
Records show Parkleigh was owned by Allan Leon Cohen, who died in September 2019. Ownership of the property was then passed down to his three children, Michael Cohen, David Cohen and Julia Gold (née Cohen).
Moss Vale is about 90 minutes from Sydney, in a part of NSW that has attracted plenty of tree-changing Sydneysiders since the start of the pandemic.
Ms Jackson said demand for land in the area was very strong, and properties like Parkleigh were being quickly snapped up.
Parkleigh sold with its original three-bedroom 1930s weatherboard cottage, shedding and new boundary fencing across 50 per cent of the property.
The sale continues a run of rural properties in prime locations selling at premium prices via online auction, a method of sale that has become increasingly popular in the agricultural sector since the start of the pandemic.
Near Edenhope in Victoria’s West Wimmera region close to the South Australian border, Dixons, a 295-hectare mixed-farming property, sold for $3.6 million to a neighbouring farm after five parties registered to bid online.
The vendors had acquired the first major portion of the property in 1976 before adding an adjoining block in 1989. They produced wheat, oats and barley and ran a herd of about 1400 cross-breeding ewes.
Selling agent Max Brown of Ray White Rural Victoria said it was a strong result.
