What we know so far
A rare opportunity to buy an entire Karoo village has come to market, with Middelpos in the Northern Cape set to go under the hammer in May 2026. Property agency Home and Hectare, a division of the BKB Group, has listed the town for a timed online auction, with bidding opening on 21 May 2026 at noon and closing at noon on 22 May 2026.
Middelpos sits on the R354 in the Upper Karoo, roughly halfway between Sutherland and Calvinia, and is described by Home and Hectare as one of the few remaining authentic Karoo villages in South Africa. The agency says the settlement has retained what it calls the cultural heritage and original character of an earlier era, undisturbed by large-scale commercial tourism.
The listing encompasses a 103,260-hectare property according to Home and Hectare, making this far more than a collection of buildings. The total holding is being offered as a single unit with mixed-use development potential spanning residential, commercial, manufacturing, and tourism applications.
Why it matters
The auction is drawing attention because Middelpos is not a derelict or abandoned settlement. It is an operating community with functioning infrastructure that continues to serve travellers and the surrounding farming district. Home and Hectare describes it as an established halfway stop for Karoo visitors and the farms in the area.
Its location is a key commercial asset. Middelpos is described as the closest town to the Tankwa Karoo National Park, one of South Africa’s lesser-known but growing wilderness destinations. The park, which covers approximately 143,000 hectares of dramatic semi-desert terrain, draws a steady stream of day visitors and overnight tourists who pass through or stop in Middelpos along the way.
The auction also carries cultural weight. The town has a documented connection to the family of the late Sir Antony Sher, the Cape Town-born actor who was knighted in the United Kingdom and who died in December 2021 at the age of 72. His family’s presence in the area stretches back well over a century, and Sher drew directly on the Middelpos connection in his literary work.
Key details and figures
The property being offered at auction includes a hotel, a shop, a factory building, three residential dwellings described as being in good condition, a hall, an old post office, a strong borehole, and 4.75 hectares of irrigable land. Home and Hectare says the property carries significant potential for development across multiple sectors.
The origins of the settlement date to 1860, when Daniel Tomlinson established a trading store after purchasing a portion of the farm Stinkkuil from a local landowner. Following Tomlinson’s death, the property was acquired by the Sher family, who had Lithuanian Jewish roots and built the store into a supply hub serving the surrounding Tankwa Karoo, Sutherland, Calvinia, and Williston areas.
The Sher family’s descendants include Sir Antony Sher, who left South Africa for the United Kingdom in 1968 and went on to become one of Britain’s most acclaimed stage actors and a long-standing associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sher drew on his family’s history in the region for his novel “Middlepost,” published in 1988, which fictionalises the experience of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants in early-twentieth-century South Africa. The novel is among the earliest major creative works to place the Middelpos area at its centre.
The auction is being conducted as a timed online event through Home and Hectare’s digital platform, which operates within the BKB Group’s established auction infrastructure. No reserve price or guide price has been publicly disclosed in the available listing information.
The 4.75 hectares of irrigable land within the property represents a meaningful productive asset in an area where reliable water access is limited. The borehole, described by Home and Hectare as strong, provides an independent water supply in a region of the Karoo characterised by aridity and sparse municipal services.
The Tankwa Karoo National Park, administered by South African National Parks, borders the broader area. Tourism to the park has grown in recent years, driven partly by the Tankwa Karoo’s profile as a remote and visually striking destination. Middelpos functions as the nearest gateway settlement, giving whoever acquires the property a structural position in the tourism supply chain.
What happens next
Prospective buyers have until 21 May 2026 at noon to prepare, when bidding opens online. The auction closes exactly 24 hours later on 22 May 2026 at noon. Home and Hectare has not publicly stated conditions of sale, financing terms, or any reserve price, and interested parties would need to contact the agency directly through its online platform at homeandhectare.com to obtain full auction documentation.
It remains to be seen whether the buyer will seek to retain the settlement’s existing character or pursue the development potential Home and Hectare has flagged. The agency describes the mixed-use potential as spanning business, residential, manufacturing, and tourism, though no development plans, zoning documentation, or feasibility assessments have been made publicly available as part of the listing information reported to date.
The sale would transfer ownership of both the physical infrastructure and the land, but the auction’s implications for any current occupants, tenants, or residents of the settlement have not been addressed in available public statements. The Northern Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation and the relevant municipality, the Hantam Local Municipality, have not publicly commented on the listing.
Whether Middelpos passes into new ownership after more than 160 years of continuous trading and hospitality use will become clear within five weeks.
