Property fund DomaCom, which organised the crowdfunding, believes the sale of “Doyles” at Sandford near Casterton was the start of a trend to get small investors into the agri property market.

It said the sale of the 150-hectare beef property through the ground-breaking deal would give 90 retail investors a stake in a property in Western Districts pastoral land. The property sold for less than $1 million.

Prior to entering into a contract to purchase the property, the fund was successful in securing a local operator as the property’s tenant.

DomaCom’s head of property Jason Bennett said a key to the transaction was identifying good operators to work with.

“We are striving to deliver a packaged opportunity to investors to enable them to invest into the rural sector through our platform,” Mr Bennett said.

DomaCom expected investors would receive an estimated combined income and capital return of 10 per cent a year on their investment, based on historic returns, which was a significant improvement on bank interest. It said the venture into crowdfunding was a chance to participate in the current strong capital growth in the rural sector. 

DomaCom chief executive Arthur Naoumidis said the company knew from its bid last year for the Kidman cattle properties “that there was a thirst by ‘mum and dad’ investors to acquire agricultural assets, and we have been looking at other properties for quite some time”.

The DomaCom property fund enables investors to select properties they want to invest in and pledge as much as they want to invest.

“People are motivated by a desire to keep prime rural land in Australian hands, as well as the opportunity for steady yield and capital gain,” Mr Naoumidis said.

Elders Hamilton agent David Peardon handled the sale and said crowdfunding was an “exciting development”. 

“As a country realtor I have been waiting for 20 years for someone to do this,” he said.