How you could own iconic festival site

The original home of the iconic Falls Festival is back on the market at the dramatically reduced price of $2.5m.

Located on Erskine Falls Road in Lorne, in regional Victoria, the property’s three lots cover a total of 68 hectares.

Two 9.5 hectare lots used as camp sites to house patrons attending the multi-day music festival have also been included in the sale.

The property features the original stage, office suites, and a three-bedroom manager’s cottage.

The price reduction comes after the owners failed to sell the commercial property for the desired $4m in 2023.

“What we saw between 2021 and 2023 was a fairly hefty spike in rural values, particularly for lifestyle blocks, because of Covid”, sales agent Jason Hellyer told the Australian Financial Review.

“That spike’s pulled back significantly and as a consequence of that the pricing has pulled back significantly.”

The Lorne site held its last festival in 2018 before bushfires and the Covid pandemic forced organisers to cancel the 2019-20 and 2020-21 events.

American rapper Lil Nas X and British rock band Arctic Monkeys headlined the festival’s return in Melbourne at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 2022-23.

Subsequently, festival organisers announced they were “taking a break.”

Later that year, the festival’s 273-hectare Marion Bay site in South Australia was also listed for sale.

It remains unclear whether Falls Festival will return in 2025.

A Live Nation spokesman told Rolling Stone AU/NZ on Tuesday that while the team “remains on hiatus,” they are still “working on exciting new projects.”

“We remain focused on the future of our festival events and will share updates as they develop,” the spokesperson said.

The Australian festival circuit has been marred by closures in recent months, with Splendour in the Grass – another Live Nation owned event – announcing it would not run in 2025.

It joins a growing list of cancellations including Groovin the Moo, Spilt Milk, The Birdsville Big Red Bash and Harvest Rock.