Blairgowrie, a 105.6ha irrigated farm just west of Pukeuri between Ferry, Skinner and Gray Rds near State Highway 83 was sold at auction for $5.21 million or the equivalent of $49,337 a hectare.
It was sold to a Glenavy dairy farmer for a dairy support unit.
PGG Wrightson real estate agent Dave Finlay, who handled the sale, believed the price was a record for land in North Otago.
It set a benchmark for that sort of quality land with improvements and an irrigation system.
The last property sold in the area was smaller, at 38ha, and fetched $40,000 a hectare, but did not have the improvements Blairgowrie had.
The property had been owned by a well-known Waitaki plains farming family, and although it had been used for cropping was suitable for a wide range of land uses.
Mr Finlay said there were two keen buyers at the well-attended auction, the successful bidder and another farmer who was interested in the property for cropping.
There was also a lot of interest from local people to see how it would sell.
The sale continued the high interest in Waitaki plains properties because of their quality soils, reliable supply of water through the lower Waitaki and other irrigation schemes, low-cost application of water and potential for diverse land uses.
The property included a four-bedroom house with sun porch, four-car garage with sleepout-office, cattle yards and a woolshed-implement shed.
Another attraction was its movable, circular, centre-pivot irrigation system and a gun irrigator which cover virtually the whole property.
