The largest property in Australia is Anna Creek Station, a massive cattle station in South Australia, covering approximately 23,677 square kilometers (5.8 million acres), making it the world's largest working cattle station and one of Australia's biggest private landholdings, owned by the Williams family as of 2025.
Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello – 9 million hectares+ Central Australian businessmen. Retain the title as Australia's largest landholders with a portfolio exceeding 9.2 million hectares, or more than twice the size of Switzerland. Operations include the organic beef-focused Crown Point Pastoral Company.
The largest single privately owned station is Anna Creek Station in South Australia, but the largest private landowner overall in Australia by total hectares is mining magnate Gina Rinehart, controlling over 9 million hectares through various companies like Hancock Agriculture and after acquiring S. Kidman & Co, with massive stations like Clifton Hills and a vast pastoral portfolio under her belt as of 2021-2025.
The biggest house in Australia is Fairwater, a two-storey mansion in the harbour-side Sydney suburb of Point Piper. Built in 1882, the heritage house features period finishes, stained glass windows, painted ceilings, decorative rich mosaic floors, door leafs and door furniture, panelled walls, and chimney pieces.
Anna Creek Station has an area of 23,677 km2 (9,142 sq mi; 5,851,000 acres), making it the biggest in the world.
Located in the vast landscapes of South Australia we find Anna Creek Station. This huge farm is about 23,677 square kilometers (5.8 million acres) and has the podium by a large margin.
The King Ranch Legacy
The ownership of Australia's most expensive house is often debated due to off-market sales and varying definitions, but currently, a Sydney penthouse at One Sydney Harbour (owned by Yan Zhang for $142m in 2025) and Paul Little's Coonac Estate in Melbourne (sold for around $150m in early 2025) are contenders, while tech billionaire Scott Farquhar owns multiple record-holding Point Piper properties like Uig Lodge.
Toorak boasts gated cul-de-sacs, privacy hedges, tree-lined streets and 22 of Australia's richest people.
The main residence is the Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. It is the largest privately owned house in the United States at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 m2) of floor space and 135,280 sq ft (12,568 m2) of living area.
Qin is the richest farmer in the world and owns 883 million shares of Muyuan stock, 40.06% of the company. Qin's wife Qian Ying is also a billionaire, and together they own a majority stake in Muyuan. His son Qin Muyuan (秦牧原) is a vice-president at Muyuan Group.
Native Title — which can include both exclusive and shared rights — covers about 40 per cent of Australia. However, it is not the same as full private ownership and can coexist with other rights, such as pastoral leases. In some cases, different Aboriginal groups can exercise Native Title rights over the same area.
In total Ms Rinehart's Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co pastoral enterprises own more than 20 properties across Australia, spanning about 3.5 million hectares with a herd of more than 150,000 head, making it one of the country's largest producers of Wagyu and commercial cattle.
The richest person in Australia is Gina Rinehart, a mining magnate and executive chairperson of Hancock Prospecting, who has topped the annual Financial Review Rich List for several consecutive years, with her wealth estimated around A$38.11 billion as of the 2025 list, despite recent iron ore price fluctuations affecting her fortune.
To buy a $650,000 house in Australia, you generally need a gross annual household income between $100,000 to $140,000, with figures varying significantly by location and lender criteria, requiring a strong deposit (around $130,000 for 20%) and managing loan repayments to not exceed 30% of your income to avoid mortgage stress, often necessitating a joint income or substantial savings, as highlighted by financial experts and data from sources like Fundd, Finder, and Real Estate.
Red Emmerson and his family are the largest landowners in the U.S., with 2.4 million acres. Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates owns the most farmland in the U.S., with over 260,000 acres in private agricultural land.
From the Editor
The world's 10 richest families
“The proportion of wealth held in cash and deposits is lowest in Australia at just above 10 per cent, only half as much as in Switzerland, Singapore and the UK.” In US dollar terms, Australia counts 1.9 million millionaires and is ranked eighth in UBS' millionaire index.
The richest suburb in Australia, based on average taxable income, is often Double Bay, NSW (postcode 2028), known as "Double Pay," followed closely by Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Perth's affluent western areas like Cottesloe and Peppermint Grove (6011). Other top contenders for wealth and high property values include Point Piper, Bellevue Hill, Vaucluse, Toorak (VIC), and Palm Beach (NSW), featuring high-end homes and luxury lifestyles.
Antilia is the residence of the Indian billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani and his family. It is located on Billionaires' Row in Mumbai. Built from 2006 to 2010 at a cost of nearly US$2 billion, it was valued at US$4.6 billion in 2023.
Largest foreign owners
China holds a 2.1pc share or 7.596m ha (759,000ha freehold and 6.836m ha leasehold) after divesting 190,000ha last year. The United Kingdom closely followed with 2pc or 7.325m ha (824,000ha freehold and 6.5m ha leasehold) after purchasing an additional 30,000ha during the year.
The following list highlights the top 10 largest ranches in Australia, showcasing their vastness, history, and importance to the nation.
At the death of Henrietta King in 1925, the ranch totaled 1.2 million acres that were divided among her heirs. Henrietta King's sole surviving child, Alice Gertrudis Kleberg, and her husband Robert J. Kleberg Jr. inherited over 800,000 acres that were incorporated as the King Ranch in 1934.