Price benchmark for Esperance region

It was purchased by a farming family local to the Esperance area.

The property spans 1951 hectares, with 1609ha being considered arable and is a highly regarded farm in the region.

Nutrien Harcourts WA real estate sales specialist Paul Thomason handled the sale, but declined to confirm the sale price, the seller or buyer.

Speculation suggested the property has been sold between two buyers/families, but Farm Weekly confirmed it was purchased by one buyer/family.

Farm Weekly understands the vendors were Peter and Kim Schmedje and it was known in the region that they had been planning to sell for some time, with many local farmers keen to put their hat in the ring to purchase it when it came to market.

But it appears they didn't have much of a chance as the property was sold within a couple of days of offers being open.

Mr Thomason said that farmland in the region was extremely tightly held and the quick sale demonstrated the strong buyer demand in the market.

"It's very rare to see a property of this quality come onto the market, so it was always going to generate a lot of interest," Mr Thomason said.

"It has set a new price benchmark for the region and the price achieved per arable hectare was certainly very exciting.

"I felt there was the appetite in the market for (the price achieved) because there hadn't been a property of this quality in the market for quite some time."

In the short window that offers were open Mr Thomason said he received lots of interest, mostly from local farmers and some corporate entities.

In the 13 years that he has been selling rural real estate in the region, Mr Thomason said he had never experienced such strong demand for farmland.

"There is a lot of positivity in the market and strong confidence in the agricultural industry," he said.

"The season has been kind to us to date - we did have a tricky start but spring has been very good, now we just need to keep away from frost.

"But the outlook is very positive."