Millgrove farm is located directly across the road from the Ballymascanlon House Hotel Golf and Leisure Club, along the R173, just off the Dublin/Belfast M1 motorway and very close to the famous Cooley peninsula.

Over 45 acres of the land is under tillage and currently planted with spring barley and drills of leeks. The remainder of the farm is under grass and used for grazing sheep. Auctioneer Brian Carroll of Sherry Fitzgerald Carroll, Dundalk, offered the farm in two separate lots.

Lot one extended to 55.4 acres and comprised the 45 acres of tillage ground and some pasture.

An opening bid of €450,000 was made for the land and between three bidders the offers increased in increments of €10,000 up to €580,000 (€10,473/acre). Receiving no further bids, Carroll then offered the second lot, which comprised 32 acres of grassland, for sale.

An opening bid of €180,000 was received and once again the offers rose by €10,000.

A final offer of €245,000 (€7,623/acre) was received for the land and Carroll withdrew to consult with the vendors. He returned after a short recess and offered the farms once more.

However, after he received no further bids and had not reached his reserve price of €900,000, Carroll withdrew the farm altogether to privately negotiate with the two highest bidders for the sale of the land.

Carnew farm sells for €922,000

Last week, auctioneer David Quinn of Quinn Property, Carnew and Gorey, sold a 97-acre farm situated right on the outskirts of Carnew, Co Wicklow, in four lots, for a combined sum of €922,000 (€9,505/acre).

The 97-acre farm is currently in a mixture of grassland and tillage, and comes with a farmyard and a number of outbuildings. The first lot, comprising 21 acres along with the farmyard and outbuildings, was sold to a local farmer for €265,000. The second lot was the tillage lands which extend to 18.7 acres. Quinn put the land on the market at €170,000 and eventually sold it to a dairy farmer for €185,000. Lot three comprised 37 acres of grassland.

Quinn said the bidding was stuck on €185,000 for a while, before he got it moving again. He put the land on the market at €220,000 and a short time later he knocked it down to another dairy farmer after his bid of €305,000 was enough to secure the land.

The fourth, and final lot, extended to 20 acres and was sold to a dry stock beef farmer for €167,000. Overall Quinn said he was happy with the auction having exceeded the guide of €750,000 and having three or four bidders for each lot.

Three farms auctioned by Savills Dublin

Last week, property agents Savills, Dublin, offered three separate farms for public auction. One was sold at auction, however the other two were withdrawn and sold privately afterwards. The first farm offered was situated at Corrstown, St Margaret’s, in North Co Dublin and comprised 50 acres. The bidding opened at €450,000 and after 28 bids it was sold to a farmer for €590,000 (€11,800/acre).

The land is situated opposite the well-known St Margaret’s golf club and is described as “fertile”, with plenty of shelter from mature trees.

The second farm offered for sale was a 46.57 block of land located at Kinnegad, Co Westmeath. A single bid of €250,000 was made for the land by a local farmer. It was withdrawn and sold privately after auction for a higher figure.

The final parcel of land was situated at Saggart, Co Dublin, and comprised 33.8 acres. The land was offered in two lots, with each lot receiving a bid of €150,000. It was withdrawn and sold afterwards in a private deal for a higher figure.