It may have taken an hour and a quarter to get a result, but it proved a worthwhile wait for auctioneer Killian Lynch, Macroom when he dropped the hammer at €18,500/acre for a 49-acre residential holding situated at Dromatimore, Aghabollogue, Coachford, Co Cork last week. Killian always had a good feeling about the property and confidently guided it at €15,000/acre or €750,000 prior to auction. Despite active farmer interest on the day, it was two locals who won the contest at the drop of the hammer at a cool €905,000, both of whom are non-farmers.

Killian offered the property in its entire and in two separate lots but it became a clear game of cat and mouse as the auction progressed with the entire outperforming the lots on every occasion. After a mere 15 rounds of bidding, the first lot comprising the house and farm buildings on 1.85 acres peaked at €145,000 while the circa 47 acres of land went to €745,000. This gave a combined total of €890,000. Having initially opened at €600,000, the entire kept outperforming the lots and finally arrived at €905,000 (almost €18,500/acre), at which stage the hammer fell to a big round of applause. The buyers are two non-farming local people. The primary bidder on the 47 acres of land was a person acting in trust, while the house and outbuildings generated both local and city-based interest.

Situated three miles north of Coachford but on the outskirts of Aghabollogue village, the property came with a listed two-storey four-bedroom residence in need of renovation and a range of farm buildings that includes a newly built slatted shed and a cubicle shed. The land is laid out in six easily worked fields and is without waste. The property previously had planning permission for 20 detached houses but this has now lapsed. At €18,500/acre, it certainly presents a strong benchmark for similar type properties in the area going forward.

Read about when this propery went on the market: Prime 49-acre package in North Cork