Average farmland price in Co Kildare rose last year to €16,534/ac, reversing a dip seen the year before.
The increase was 5% or €794/ac. Nowadays, land prices in the county are among the half-dozen highest in the country. This is not all due to land quality – Kildare, after all, was a traditional producer of huge volumes of the finest turf and peat.
It’s mainly about its proximity to the capital.
A key driver of high prices for land in the county is the number of business people interested in it as an investment, or looking for a nice lifestyle holding on 10ac to 30ac.
Land near Dublin, near the fast-expanding towns in the north of the county and close to motorways commands high prices. So too does sought-after land, for example, the area centred around Athy and the Curragh.
Upwards trend
In other counties, average prices can bob up and down from year to year, but the trend in Kildare has been upwards for the past decade. Blocks of good land near any of the large towns in the county fetch the top prices. They can make €17,000/ac to €20,000/ac.
Supply of land and farms for sale in the county was fairly steady last year. Our report examined 45 holdings that were put up for sale, up from 41 the year before. We did our calculations on 20 farms that had sold by year end, down from 21 in 2024.
Coonan Property sold a 45.8ac farm with a small house near Prosperous at auction for €950,000, or €20,742/ac. The buyer was a local businessman.
Proving that location and road frontage still count, Jordan Auctioneers got a remarkable €175,000/ac for a small parcel of tillage ground at Blackchurch, Kill.
The 8ac has no commercial zoning, but sat on the edge of the N7 dual carriageway. Uniquely, the land had frontage on four sides onto a public road. However, this land did not meet our criteria and was excluded from our calculations.
SHARING OPTIONS