A Kiewa Valley farm has sold before auction for more than $1.5 million - far exceeding expectations.
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The Tawonga Redbank property with Kiewa River frontage was described as "a little bit of gold" by real estate agent Mike Weller and was sold privately for an undisclosed amount on Monday.
Corcoran Parker was due to auction the Kiewa Valley Highway, 60 hectare property on Thursday but Mr Weller said a buyer came to the table with a price that "far exceeded everyone's expectations".
The estimated price was between $1.4 million and $1.5 million.
"I can't disclose the number but it far exceeded the estimated price," Mr Weller said.
"And our seller understandably went for it and decided not to go to auction.
"I think properties like this don't come around very often and now in the drought if you have a prime property with river frontage and irrigation in a high rainfall area it is like a little bit of gold.
"We had plenty of interest from out-of-state buyers but the buyer did come from the local area.
"The current owners have only had it for three years but took the opportunity to sell and consolidate around their home block."
The price per hectare exceeds the Staghorn Flat Rockleigh farm carve-up last month which netted $10.35 million for the 443.13 hectare property which was divided into seven lots - this is around $23,000 per hectare.
Redbank was sold for more than $25,000 per hectare.
The Rockleigh auction was the highest price tag in the region since actor Mel Gibson's North East land sell-off in 2004 which netted $6 million.
The prime river flats is described as a "highly productive agricultural holding in the tightly held Kiewa Valley", has two kilometres of river frontage and 40 megalitres of high security irrigation entitlement along with an average annual rainfall of more than 1000 millimetres.
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Mr Weller said another North East farm in the Upper Murray is also drumming up "keen interest from buyers".
"The Rocklea property at Pine Mountain is another beautiful river front property which is quite sought after," he said.
"It has more than three kilometres of Murray River frontage and again has high annual rainfall.
"Sometimes out-of-state buyers don't really know a drought so are always looking for properties like this to ensure they survive any tough drought times."
Rocklea offers 252 hectares of property ideally suited to livestock breeding and grazing with the Murray River frontage the main draw card.
The Murray River Road property has been described as "effectively drought proof" with 127 megalitres of irrigation entitlement as well as an average annual rainfall of 825 millimetres.
It is for sale by expressions of interest until December 11.
"I think Rocklea is one of those properties which will sell really quickly and it a very sought after type of property with all the water included," Mr Weller said.
"It is also a really beautiful part of the world."
Pajara at Holbrook is another land holding worth looking at, according to Mr Weller.
The 325 hectare property is selling by private sale with a $2.1 million asking price.