Cash buyers are snapping up commonage ground and blanket bog along the west coast.

Strong competition for this ground has resulted in prices trebling over the last five years, with some holdings topping €1,000/ac in parts of Mayo.

Although dairy farmers from Munster and the southeast have hunted these blocks of land, as well as wind farm developers, the bulk of the buyers are local farming investors.

“Most of the buyers for these types of properties are from the Connacht area.

“They know the land, they know entitlements and they’re often involved in sheep farming themselves,” said Westport-based auctioneer Olivia Needham.

The buyer was a Mayo-based investor with farming interests

While commonage ground generally sold for around €250-300/ac up to 2015, and had reached €500-700/ac by 2017, Needham recently sold a 190ac block at Laughta between Louisburgh and Westport for €190,000. The buyer was a Mayo-based investor with farming interests.

Rental income

While the lands had low-value entitlements, she said the real appeal was in the rental income. That property was leased for five years to a young farmer for €19,000/year.

“For cash buyers it’s a better alternative than having money in the bank and being charged for it, or investing in a buy-to-let,” the Westport auctioneer explained.

Those renting the ground can establish valuable entitlements through the National Reserve, she added.

Enniscrone auctioneer Edel Rolston said demand for commonage was equally strong in west Sligo, with €800-1,000/ac being paid for ground.

“It is mostly buyers looking for map acres,” she said.

Land is in hot demand

Martin O’Connor of DNG auctioneers in Oughterard, Co Galway, told the Irish Farmers Journal he has “a list a mile long” with people looking for land.

“There is a lot of demand from young trained farmers who have land at home, but not enough to support two farmers.

“They’re buying their own land and building up entitlements. Land is in hot demand,” he said.