Wind farm windfall through Ray White Rural Yass | Canberra

THE 538.2 acre ‘Woolangubra’ near Yass went under the hammer last week in a competitive auction that resulted in a sale that went $375,000 over reserve. The property is set to home part of the Bango wind farm.

The hotly contested green energy acreage sold for $1.6 million in what Ray White Yass | Canberra sales agent George Southwell believed it could be the first wind farm that has ever been sold publicly in Australia.

“I haven’t been able to find another wind farm sale like it in Australia so I am certain it could potentially be the first,” Mr Southwell said.

The winning bidders, Kerry and Roger Rayner also own the adjacent land and plan to continue expanding their sheep operation to grow their existing Merino and Dorset sheep numbers.

“We’ve been wanting to expand for a few years but nothing suitable was on the market. We were a bit worried because just in the last few weeks the banks were a bit reluctant to take on new business loans but we persevered and we got there,” Ms Rayner said.

“When the hammer came down and it was ours both our hearts were pumping and it took hours to calm down.”

The online auction was held at the New South Wales head office studio and called by Ray White New South Wales CEO and auctioneer Jason Andrew.

Drawing 11 registered bidders, the auction success was a testament to the quick thinking and innovation of everyone involved.

“That was our first 100 per cent online auction, we were extremely nervous being able to manage the process however I took a lot of comfort from the professional corporate help,” Mr Southwell said.

“It’s a real credit to Dominic who led the campaign, he was the lead sales agent and did not waver from the traditional auction process with the obvious concessions and it really paid off for us.

“It just proves that the process is working and while it has changed, it still remains the favourite method of serious buyers.”

The auction capped off a successful campaign that Ray White Yass | Canberra selling agent Dominic Johns said attracted strong interest from start to finish.

“We had a good level of interest the whole way through the campaign especially with it being such a unique property, there were three or four different private inspections each week which was excellent,” Mr Johns said.

“It was the property that brought buyers in, obviously the wind farm is a major factor but most people are looking at owning the rural farm, not just wind farm so the majority were interested in farming land.”

Mr Southwell is still seeing a lot of confidence in the real estate market and the ‘new normal’ auction procedures saying that the Yass | Canberra office has been able to adapt quickly to the changing processes.

“We’re really fortunate, this is a very tight family business that involves four people being registered agents and two licensees in the office which has allowed us to adapt to private inspections well,” Mr Southwell said.

“Our biggest problem at the moment is a lack of stock and there seems to be a strong sentiment in the marketplace that bricks and mortar and gold are still going to be solid in these times.