A circa 34.3ac block of land outside Nenagh, Co Tipperary, defied all expectations as it sold by online auction on Thursday 21 November.

Listed with REA Eoin Dillon, the property at Coolderry, Ardcroney, is a fine non-residential grassland farm with a good cattle yard.

Auctioneer Eoin Dillon said: “It attracted a lot of interest, as it was an executor sale for a good farm.

"It’s rare for land to come up for sale in the area too. There hasn’t been much land sold there in the last 10 years.

"It was all local full-time dairy farmers taking part and there was no outside business interests registered.

"We usually look for a pre-auction deposit of €5,000, but for this one we looked for a €20,000 bidding deposit, as we felt that would leave only the serious contenders.”

There is accommodation for 150 head of cattle on the farm.

The increased deposit was paid by more than the seven bidders who took part and the guide price ahead of the auction was €450,000 (€13,100/ac) and this was left for dust once proceedings got under way.

Bidding opened at €400,000 and after 163 bids, the gavel fell at €702,000 (€20,407/ac).

Eoin Dillon said: “The phone hasn’t been ringing with people offering land to sell, but some of the under-bidders have stated that they are ready to buy as they have loan approval if anything comes up.”

The farm is out the Borrisokane direction from Nenagh. It is 3.5km from Ardcroney village and 9km from both Nenagh and Borrisokane. It has extensive road frontage.

The land is all in grass.

The land lies in three main fields and is described by the agents as mainly prime quality grassland. The farm has been organically managed for a number of years.

The farmyard has a five-bay double-slatted shed, a cattle crush, a silage slab and also the ruins of two former houses.

There is slatted accommodation for 150 cattle and the sheds are in good working condition. Water supply is from a private well and there is an electricity connection.

The purchaser will be offered the opportunity to also buy the farm’s EU entitlements. There were also 12.59 BISS entitlements with a gross unit value of €318 and they were offered at 2.5 times their face value.