A roadside non-residential farm in Co Carlow recently made in excess of €25,600/ac when it sold at public auction recently. Castlecomer-based auctioneer, Joseph Coogan hosted the sale of the 41ac holding at Ballinaboley, Leighlinbridge, in his auction room at Ballycomey House on Friday 8 August.

In stubble with a cereal crop just harvested, the land just over 1km from Leighlinbridge, is in one block and laid out in three fields.

An opening bid of €700,000 got proceedings underway and the property went on the market at €970,000 before a number of final bids resulted in the hammer falling at €1.05m.

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Speaking after the sale, auctioneer Joseph Coogan said: “This was top-quality agricultural land with extensive road frontage onto the Leighlinbridge to Nurney road and there was good interest in it.

“We took 49 bids in total with three active bidders. Two were auctioneers and the third was a solicitor and all were acting on behalf of farmer clients.

“I had some people comment to me afterwards that the purchaser paid a lot for it but I still had two under-bidders who missed out. One dropped out once the bids hit €1m but we still had a two horse race as the price passed €25,000/ac. That shows the confidence and demand that is there in the value of agricultural land in Ireland at the moment.”