There was good interest in two Co Meath farms sold at auction in recent days.

REA Thomas Potterton sold 39ac with a house at Rathmolyon in four lots in an in-person public auction in an open hayshed at Trim Mart.

One of the lots was bought by a farmer, the other three by business people.

Lot 1 was the house on 5.5ac. It opened at €300,000 and went on the market at €420,000 before selling at €430,000.

House on 39ac at Rathmolyon.

Three bidders took part and the buyer is a business person with farming interests.

Lots 2 and 3 were exhausted sandpits and both were bought by individuals with commercial interests.

Lot 2, on 4ac, opened at €20,000 and five bidders then brought it on to €90,000, at which stage it went on the market. It was knocked down at €100,000. The buyer is from Athlone.

Lot 3 was on 4.5ac. It opened at €50,000, went on the market at €91,000 and was sold at €100,000.

Lot 4 was 25ac, the balance of the farmland. It opened at €150,000. Three bidder brought it to €220,000, at which price it went on the market. It was knocked down at €225,000 or €9,000/ac.

The buyers are father and son Sean and Raymond Heffernan who farm locally in dairying.

Auctioneer Thomas Potterton said that the total of the sale was €855,000, equal to just under €22,000/ac.

Hill of Down farm

Meanwhile, Sherry Fitzgerald successfully auctioned the 109ac farm at Killyon, Hill of Down on 21 July.

This was a non-residential farm of good-quality land, all in grass, laid out in three fields.

The farm is off the R161, 5km from Ballivor, 11km from Kinnegad and 15km from Trim.

The auction opened at €750,000 and after a total of seven bids, it had reached €1,000,000.

The property went on the market at this price and after a further six bids of €5,000 each, the land was sold for €1,030,000, equal to €9,450/ac.