A 40-hectare (99 acre) grazing property, spectacularly located overlooking the ocean at Cape Paterson, but without a house, it must be said, has been sold at auction for a record-smashing price of $5.01 million on Thursday this week, September 7.

That’s almost $51,000 an acre.

With frenzied bidding coming in over the phone from Singapore, online from Melbourne and locally, at the offices of Ray White Inverloch, where the hybrid auction was based, the bids quickly broke through local expectations above the $2 million mark, and surged onwards and upwards, via a series of $100,000 knockout shots from overseas.

But with 14 separate bidders entering the fray at one time or another, interest in the extremely rare coastal listing was strong throughout.

And ultimately, a local bidder doggedly stayed with the cashed-up interest from overseas, matching their most extravagant rises with $10,000 bids of his own, to finally claim the prize, after a sometimes nerve-wracking 67 bids, to a generous round of applause.

“Of course, we’re delighted with the result which is testament to the Ray White technology and the marketing reach, as much as anything else, that we can attract interested people from a wide area and then engage them in the auction process with a hybrid system,” said principal agent at Ray White in Cape Paterson and Inverloch, Fiona McMahon-Hughes.

“The hybrid system allows people to participate on equal terms whether attending in person, as they did today, or online and overseas, in a seamless process.

“But it was a unique property, located as it is overlooking the magnificent Bunurong coastline. It’s a special place,” Ms McMahon-Hughes said, while thanking all those who took an interest in the property and registered as bidders, as well as the staff at the two local Ray White offices in Inverloch and Cape Paterson, also in Wonthaggi and the local area, and those that supported the auction further afield.

“The buyers aren’t in a hurry to do a lot with it, beyond continuing with grazing, and I think they are keen to keep it for the family. long into the future,” said Fiona.

For further details contact Fiona McMahon-Hughes at http://fiona.mh@raywhite.com