Bought for $225k, sold for $43 million
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Three siblings from southeast Melbourne have become multi-millionaires overnight after selling their family’s former pea farm in Officer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The life changing sale saw the siblings sell the 12.3 hectare Rix Road block for $43 million last week - $11 million above the reserve price - after attracting local and international developers looking to snap up the urban growth zone site.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to CoreLogic records, the property last sold in 1988 for just $225,000.</span></p>
<p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7843065/farm.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b2166570146d461781ba882a30749666" /></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: realestate.com.au</span></em></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sun Herald</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"> reported that the siblings and their elderly mother were the beneficiaries of the trio’s late stepfather’s estate, which included the land.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">CBRE agent David Minty, who brokered the sale along with fellow CBRE agents, said the three siblings were aged in their 50s and had “standard” day jobs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They weren’t wealthy people so this is completely life changing for them,” he said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s a really special sale just knowing how life changing it is for this particular family. You go from a simple day job, you don’t have a huge amount of money, and all of a sudden you’ve got a sizable sum. They’ve always been a private, courteous and respectful family. They may just maintain their same lifestyles - they’re not flashy people.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Minty said the land had formerly been used to grow peas, and he believed the siblings’ grandfather had worked as a farmer for former Governor-General and federal minister Lord Richard Casey, which the City of Casey was named after.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Developers YouLand and Satterley have projects surrounding the block, but YourLand, backed by Japanese company Nippon, was able to secure the sale.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We’re experiencing strong demand from developers looking to secure development pipelines in this region, which is unlikely to be satisfied in a market which is very short on appropriately zoned or earmarked landholdings,” said Mr Murfale, who also brokered the deal.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is understood that the buyer paid more than it hoped for, having first offered the family $27 million off-market last year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The sale price smashes all metrics achieved for a development site sale in Officer, representing a record rate of $3.65 million per hectare,” Mr Minty said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Whether it’s a shift in mindset with COVID, with people wanting to live out in the areas and buy their own house and set up their families, [the demand is] just quite extraordinary.”</span></p>
