For Sale: A Whopper Property the Size of Kentucky

A piece of property so vast that it takes a week to inspect by plane is up for grabs in Australia.

The 11 million hectare, or 39,155 square mile property, (wow) in southern Australia is the largest private stretch of real estate on earth, The Independent of London reported.

If you’re having difficulty picturing how big this piece of land is, this may help: it’s roughly the size of Kentucky.

Home to a sprawling collection of cattle ranches, the land is being sold by S. Kidman and Co., the eighth-largest landholder in the world. The land has been owned by the Sir Sidney Kidman family for more than 100 years, The Independent says. Kidman, according to the report, was “a penniless runaway who become the country’s greatest pastoralist.”

The cost of cattle is now high, so it’s really no surprise that even with a price tag of $325 million, there are at least 30 bidders interested in it. The potential bidders are representatives of other farming families, local and foreign investors, meat companies and global pension funds, Quartz reported.

The bidders are from countries around the world, including China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, South America and Indonesia.

Some local lawmakers called for Australia to prohibit the sale of the massive piece of land to a foreign government or state-owned company, Quartz said.

Don Manifold, Ernst & Young South Australia’s managing partner, told The Independent there’s no reason to get riled up just yet:

There is some hysteria at the moment about foreign land ownership and I understand people’s concerns, but this is a very well-managed cattle business and the federal government and [three state and one territory] governments and the Foreign Investment Review Board will all be involved because we are talking about long-term pastoral leases here.

Can you imagine a property as big as this Australian outback parcel? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.