Big Waikato farm sales - $200m for 29 properties

Former Carter Holt Harvey land, converted from forestry into dairy farms, has sold in the Waikato. File photo / Christine Cornege.

Twenty-nine South Waikato dairy farms and one drystock property, converted by Carter Holt Harvey from forestry land, have sold for about $200 million, PGG Wrightson Real Estate said.

The final five Carter Holt properties, in Atiamuri and Tokoroa, will go up for tender in late June, the realtor said.

Paul O'Sullivan, PGG Wrightson Real Estate's sales manager for the area, said the sale process took four years to complete and attracted a range of buyers. The farms' total area was 8600 hectares.

Trinity Lands, a company of local farmers, bought three of the final group of five farms, taking its total purchases of the former Carter Holt Harvey properties to 15.

Another big buyer was Southern Pastoral, which numbers former All Black captain Graham Mourie among its directors and is 99 per cent owned by a Swedish state pension fund.

Southern Pastoral acquired 10 of the farms and individuals bought the rest, he said.

Offering so many farms for sale has had an impact on the market, O'Sullivan said. Between last December and June, the median bareland price for Waikato dairy properties was $26,000 per hectare, whereas in earlier times it had been around $34,000, he said.

"Availability of so many farms for sale has been positive for buyers," he said. "However, with the final property from this portfolio now sold, similar farms are scarce and it is likely that values will firm in the coming months," he said.

Meanwhile, a smaller portfolio of South Waikato farms - covering 1000 hectares - owned by Contact Energy, is up for sale as they are no longer required by the power generator, PGG Wrightson said.