The 1,090ac Ballinla Farm at Edenderry, Co Offaly, has been sold for €11m, or the equivalent of €10,091/ac, to one buyer. This is well above the guide price of €9m to €10m.
Some 50 interested parties attended the auction in the Johnstown Estate Hotel in Enfield, Co Kildare.
The property was first offered in lots. Lot one, which was 78ac, attracted a final bid of €700,000. Lot two, 74ac, was bid to €640,000. Lot three, 61ac, was bid to €680,000. Lot four, 877ac with houses and farmyard, was not bid on.
Auctioneer Raymond Potterton, then offered the entire. It was opened at €8m, was bid to €8.5m, then €9m, then €9.25m. It proceeded in a series of bids to €11m, at which point it was knocked down.
Ballinla Farm was one of the largest commercial farms ever offered for sale on the open market in Ireland. The farm includes 720ac of quality tillage land, 190ac of good grassland and 180ac of commercial forestry.
There is an extenisve yard with a modern ventilated grain store. There are two houses. Ballinla House has not been lived in recently, but has been maintained in good condition. It's a Georgian listed house, built in 1842, with four bedrooms.
The other house, Penny Lodge, is large, at approximately 3,000 square feet, with five bedrooms, in excellent condition and ready to move into.
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