Galloping past the usual suspects, two sprawling ranch properties in Montana topped the list of the biggest real estate sales for 2021.
Traditionally the biggest home deals in the world have been shared among upscale neighborhoods in California, Florida, and New York City.
However, underscoring the trend for country living following the rise of remote working amid the pandemic, Montana is quickly becoming one of the U.S.’ hottest properties in terms of real estate.
In 2021, two ranches in the western state were sold for record prices.
The biggest property sales for 2021
In September, the 80,000-acre Climbing Arrow ranch near Bozeman, Montana, listed by Swan Land Company went for $136 million; the property served as the backdrop of Robert Redford’s 1992 film A River Runs Through It.
This saw it claim fourth place on the list of most expensive house sales for 2021, after a four-floor penthouse in New York City ($157 million) and a slick coastal home in Malibu, California ($177 million).
Topping last year’s list at first place was another Montana property, the Beaverhead Ranch, purchased by Rupert Murdoch from the famed Koch family for a reported $200 million.
The Beaverhead Ranch, which is a working cattle ranch located in Dillon near Yellowstone National Park, covers 340,000 acres with varied terrain, an abundance of wildlife, and 25 homes which serve largely as staff accommodation.
Before last December’s sale of Beaverhead, the previous record-holder in Montana was held by Broken O ranch, which was snapped up for $132.5 million in 2012.
However, the most expensive ranch ever sold in the U.S. is a title that remains with the W.T. Waggoner Ranch.
The sprawling 510,000-acre estate in Texas was purchased in 2016 by billionaire real estate and sports mogul Stan Kroenke for a whopping $725 million.
Climbing Arrow Ranch. Images: Swan Land Company
The trend for ranch land as an investment opportunity
As aforementioned, the pandemic has triggered a boom within the rural property market worldwide.
Research conducted by tech brokerage firm Redfin in early 2021 found that the housing supply in rural areas across the U.S. dropped a record 44 percent leading to a lift in prices. With more people working from home than ever, homebuyers are now prioritizing indoor and outdoor spaces over location.
Mike Swan, the owner of Swan Land Company represented the Montana Climbing Arrow ranch, told JamesEdition that ‘in the residential market, there is no doubt that the pandemic has driven buyers to the Rocky Mountain States’.
In the narrow ultra luxury market segment, individuals have also followed suit, looking for ‘wild west’ country properties to add to their portfolios, which tend to contain other properties in New York, California, Florida and Europe.
However, Swan added that the spike in interest in large ranch/recreational properties within the luxury market has been more of a result of policy coming out of Washington DC versus pandemic related.
He notes: “High net worth buyers that we interact with already have their “escape homes” somewhere in the United States or abroad. We see these buyers investing in the western land market for the purpose of capital preservation more than anything else’.
Bill McDavid of ranch brokerage Hall & Hall, which managed the Beaverhead Ranch sale, told Insider in May 2020 that Wyoming was another state that has witnessed a spike in interest in ranch properties, with the wealthiest buyers tending to hail from California, Texas, and New York.
These land-rich properties have steadily climbed the rank as top investment opportunities and high net worth buyers realize them as a smart way of parking money.
Climbing Arrow Ranch. Image: Swan Land Company
Montana’s most expensive ranches: The USPs
Last year’s top-selling ranches certainly have some special features that set them apart from the rest.
Climbing Arrow – which was listed on JamesEdition at the time – makes for an impressive sight with the land spread across four Montana counties – Gallatin, Meagher, Madison, and Broadwater.
For a taste of urban life, the ranch is just 30 minutes from Bozeman, one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.
In terms of its offerings, the sweeping estate boasts large-scale agricultural production, big-game hunting, and private fishing waters. Before its sale, it was held by the same family for 62 years.
Over the decades the Anderson family, who are descended from the former president of the Bank of California, built a number of properties on the ranch including several modest employee residences, guest homes, and an owner’s home.
Sheds and barns are among the other buildings.
Climbing Arrow’s claim to fame is that it was used as the backdrop in the movie A River Runs and many of the filming locations, including a tunnel and picturesque trestle bridge, remain intact.
Another interesting feature of the property is its archeological discoveries. Tipi rings and cave petroglyphs on the ranch are evidence that Blackfeet and Crow tribes hunted, camped, and traveled in the area thousands of years ago.
Beaverhead Ranch
Meanwhile, the world’s highest-selling property for 2021, Beaverhead Ranch, is more than four times the size of Climbing Arrow, making it one of the largest ranches in Montana.
Brokerage firm Hall & Hall said following its sale to Rupert Murdoch and his wife Jerry: ‘In assuming ownership, Mr Murdoch finds himself as the steward of not only an iconic property, he becomes a voice in the future of agriculture in the U.S.’
The estate has been nurtured into a thriving reserve for wildlife and it is home to around 7,000 cow/calf pairs, 4,000 elk, 800 antelope, and 1,500 mule deer.
It also serves up a 28-mile-long creek that is stocked with trout.
Beaverhead isn’t the Murdochs first foray into the world of ranching, and they own similar operations in California and New South Wales in Australia but on a smaller scale.
Murdoch said after the Montana acquisition through a spokesperson: ‘This is a profound responsibility. We feel privileged to assume ownership of this beautiful land and look forward to continually enhancing both the commercial cattle business and the conservation assets across the ranch.’
