The deceased estate at 19 Kaikahu Road North has been leased to a local farmer for grazing and making silage over past few years and is suitable for a number of uses – a run-off or lifestyle block and long-term land bank.

Situated in an elevated position on the northern edge of Kerepehi township, Bayleys Hamilton salespeople Karl Davis and Josh Smith are marketing the property for sale by tender closing at 3pm on April 11. The block has a Waikato Regional Council capital valuation of $1.3 million.

All sectors of the rural landscape are performing well and property prices are robust, Mr Davis said.

About 1.7 hectares across the titles are currently zoned residential and could be subdivided down to 450sq m sections, Mr Davis said. However, for every two at 450sq there must be a 700sq m section based on the contents of the District Plan.

Mr. Davis said it could be possible to sub-divide some 25 sections off the land currently zoned residential but also noted all purchasers would need to carry out their own due diligence around the matter.

The property is established as a grazing block, and as a whole it could run about 80 one and two-year-old cattle, he said.

Elevated above the majority of the Hauraki Plains, the flat to easy loam over clay land was used to make 601 bales of silage and hay last year and graze 50 head of cattle for six weeks during May and June, while in 2017 the land yielded 601 bales of hay and silage and 12 head of cattle were grazed for 20 weeks from January to June and 50 head for seven weeks between May and June.

This year it is expected 670 bales of silage and hay will come off the land. For anyone looking at a land bank option this will be a great source of income, Mr Davis said.

Previous owners have kept infrastructure on the property to a minimum – encompassing a tidy 140sq m three-bedroom brick house built in 1957, a 36-square metre hay barn, and stock yards and a nearby stand-off pad off Kaikahu Road North.

The property has four access points - including State Highway 2, Kaikahu Road North, Rimu Street North and McGowan Avenue.

It is adjacent to industrially-zoned land. The townships of Kerepehi. Ngatea, Kopu and Paeroa are all within 18-kilometres of the property, with the larger centers of Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga being 108, 83 & 98 kilometres away respectively.

“That means a large percentage of New Zealand’s population will be within an hour of this location. This is one of the reasons the Hauraki District Council has chosen Kerepehi as the industrial hub for the district,” Mr Davis said.

“With recent acquisitions and improvements to key infrastructure within the township, the council has safeguarded the capacity for further growth and has continued to be supportive of such activities. Recent industrial developments are providing a large number of jobs and could easily see the demand for housing in Kerepehi increase as more businesses relocate - making this block of land a prime opportunity for the astute buyer,” he said.

In 2017, the estate's executors asked the Hauraki District Council to consider including rezoning the entire block into a mix of Industrial and residential as part of its planning process at the time, Mr Smith said.

“The council declined but has identified the land as part of its medium to long-term growth strategy for residential development,.” Mr Smith said.

“It could be acquired by a new owner and land banked as a long-term holding plan.

“Another use is converting the block into a lifestyle property. The healthy performance of the lifestyle sector is mainly off the back of people moving out of Auckland's residential market and by retiring/downsizing farmers wanting to retain some connection with a block of land close to rural centers,” Mr Smith said.

Farming is central to Kerepehi and the Hauraki Plains economy, Mr Smith said.

“Economically, dairy farming is the leading primary industry, supported by other grassland farming. It provides the most income for the region with the size of dairy farms ranging from about 100 cows to upwards of 500, with 66 percent of the total land area of the plains is used by cows and milking facilities,” he said.