€13,523/ac for land in Kilkenny

Land supply has tightened in Kilkenny in recent years and prices have increased. That trend did not reverse in 2021.

The number of farms offered was 23, down from 26 the year before. The total area was 967ac, almost reaching the 981ac of the year before.

Fourteen of the farms on offer were under 40ac, the others bigger. Five were residential. The holdings varied quite a bit, from top-quality grazing and tillage land to plainer land suited for rough grazing or planting to forestry.

Good demand saw 21 of the 23 farms sold. The average price was €13,523/ac, which was up approximately €500/ac on the previous year.

But reflecting the variation of land on offer, there was a wide range in prices. The lowest price paid was €5,200/ac for rough grazing land down near the Waterford border.

The highest price was €27,817/ac for good grassland on the Carlow town side of Kilkenny. Both were small parcels sold by private treaty.

Most parcels of good grassland sold in the range of €10,000/ac to €15,000/ac, with good tillage land making a further premium of €2,000/ac to €3,000/ac.

Dairy farmers are usually strong buyers of farmland in Kilkenny and they were again in 2021, buying exactly one-third of the farmland that was sold.

But they were matched by the business category, buyers with income from outside farming. They bought just over a third of holdings.

Beef farmers and mixed farmers – some of whom would be in milk – bought the remaining holdings.