148 acres at Church Hill, Coolapoge, and Toberbreedia near Cuffesgrange made €1.84m at auction last week.

The property, which was sold in three lots, surpassed the expectations of Anthony O’Regan of Keane Mahony Smith Auctioneers, who handled the sale, with the auctioneer describing the final figure as “astounding”.

The pick of the three lots was the first parcel, a residential property with an accompanying 53 acres of good-quality agricultural land near Church hill, about 9km from Kilkenny city. Bidding for this site began at €500,000 and after 43 bids, the hammer dropped at a phenomenal €1m. The property had an expected guided price of between €450,000 to €500,000 before auction.

Competition for the lot on the day lay between three local farmers. The property itself has a single-storey residence in need of refurbishment. The holding also has road frontage and contains outbuildings. According to Anthony O’Regan, there may be the potential for future development opportunities on the site due to its proximity to Kilkenny city and the upgrade of the nearby N76 road.

52 acres of grassland in Coolapoge made up the second lot. This particular holding was knocked down at €440,000 after bidding opened at €300,000. This property contains circa 32 acre of good-quality grassland, with 20 acres in need of work such as drainage.

Lot number three also surpassed expectation, finishing at a nifty €400,000 to a farmer in the locality. Two interested bidders made for some brisk bidding as a price tag of €275,000 opened proceedings.

In total, €1.84m made for quite a substantial sale.