Strong prices have been paid at auction for top farmland properties in recent days. In Co Wexford, Quinn Property sold 23ac with a derelict stone-built cottage by online auction. This holding land was at Ballyboy, Ferns. Bidding commenced at €200,000 and rose to €440,000. A break was then taken for client instructions. The property was declared “on the market” and further bids invited. Following five further bids, the hammer fell at €510,000 – equal to just over €22,000/ac.

Coonan Property achieved €20,700/ac for a c80 block of land in Co Kildare. The property was the high profile Ballyburn House, Castledermot on c87.3ac, the site for the once proposed sugar factory.

The farm was offered in lots. Lot 1, the period house on 7.5ac, was bid to €570,000 – but withdrawn at this price.

However, Lot 2, c80ac of land, met big interest. Bidding opened at €1,000,000 and rose quickly to €1,450,000 with four bidders participating. Two of the bidders brought the price on to €1,610,000, at which point it was placed on the market. The two bidders then fought it out until it was knocked down to a Carlow based farmer for €1,655,000. The price equates to approximately €20,700/ac. This is well over the €17,592/ac average price of farmland in Co Kildare last year, as reported in the Irish Farmers Journal Land Price Report 2023.

Coonan Property sold 80ac at Ballyburn for €20,700/ac.

Ferry nearby

Stephen Gunne from Property Partners Laurence Gunne in Dundalk recently sold 40ac on the side of Carlingford Lough, at Ballynamoney, Greenore in Co Louth.

There was interest from Northern Ireland because there is a ferry nearby, linking Greenore and the north, he said. At the auction, bidding opened at €500,000 and advanced quickly to €710,000. The property was put on the market and sold at that figure. It equates to €17,750/ac.

The buyer was a well-known local farmer, who has land close by. “Co Louth probably has fewer land sales per annum than most other counties but still achieves some of the highest prices in the country,” Stephen Gunne said after the auction.

Jordan Auctioneers and Leinster Marts successfully auctioned a 25ac property with two houses at Sunnyhill, Kilcullen. The location was good – just 2km from Kilcullen and close to Newbridge (8km), Naas (15km) and the Curragh (6km). The land was described as top quality. The property was initially offered in lots. However, the greatest interest was in the entire. Two bidders battled it out until the hammer fell at €1,015,000 to a local based farmer.

Finally, an adjacent, non-residential lot of 4ac was offered and sold for €180,000 to another local based buyer.