A PORTION of a premium property at Dandaragan, known as Dambadgee Springs, is in the process of being purchased by local farmers.
Dambadgee Springs was part of the iconic property Yathroo.
The property of 4170 hectares was listed on behalf of two vendors: the ASX-listed company Alterra and Mat and Jade Stoney, of Stoney Agri.
The portion that is close to selling is owned by Atlerra, which comprises 1640ha.
Alterra has retained 727ha of the offering, resulting in 913ha being bought by a neighbouring farming family for $3.1 million, equating to $3395 per hectare.
Alterra purchased the property in 2017 for $4.2m or $2561/ha.
This indicates an increase in value of about 24.5 per cent over three years.
Farm Weekly understands the buyers are cropping focussed farmers and the portion they purchased was the broadacre part of the parcel and will be included in in their 2020 program.
The buyer has also leased some of the land that Alterra retained that will also add to their 2020 cropping program.
The marketing of Dambadgee Springs is being handled by Steve Vaughan, Ray White Rural WA and Terry Norrish, Nutrien Harcourts.
It's understood that the portion of Dambadgee Springs held by the Stoneys is likely to be purchased by two buyers - a farmer/farming family and an agricultural business.
The portion still held by Alterra, of 727ha, includes a $2.5m income stream from the Yandin Wind Farm, surface water resources and areas suitable for livestock, plantation forestry and carbon forestry.
Alterra managing director Oliver Barnes said the company would still continue to add value on the remaining land until it decided to divest it to suit its investment model.
"The plan is in time to realise that investment and redeploy that capital in the South West region," Mr Barnes said.
"We have a short to medium-term view of holding this property.
"There's ongoing investment in the Dandaragan region, particularly very close to that property in feedlotting and finishing cattle and we think demand for land in that region will continue to increase."
Mr Barnes said the property was marketed to appeal to a broad range of buyers and it attracted strong interest, including those looking to hold agricultural land as a passive investment, but the natural buyer turned out to be a neighbour.
"I guess the opportunity doesn't come up that often to add additional land to their operation and they were very familiar with operating in the region - with those soils and that climate, so they had a good understanding of what the value attributes of the property were," he said.
"It's also nice to be able to transact with and support neighbouring farmers in the region."
Moving forward, Alterra plans to focus on its 300ha avocado investment at Pemberton, the Carpenters Project.
The land and water resources for the project have been leased from Red Moon Property Holdings Pty Ltd, an entity related to the Casotti Group, Western Australia's largest privately-owned fruit grower, packer and wholesaler.
Mr Barnes said the company was not currently seeking additional assets to develop.
