Trends in the land market vary significantly as you move around the country and it can greatly depend on what auctioneer you speak with. However, one trend we can be certain about in Tipperary is that on any given day, a good-quality farm can make seriously high prices. Proof of this is last Thursday a 75-acre farm made €1.56m, or €20,800/ac when auctioned in the Horse and Jockey.

As previously reported in Irish Country Living, the 75-acre farm located at Thurlesbeg arrived on the market in August. The very reasonable guide of €850,000, or €11,000/ac, was realistic and ensured good attention prior to auction. However, realism cannot be applied to some of the huge sales we have seen in the county this year.

The auction

You get the impression from speaking with auctioneer Alison De Vere Hunt of Cashel Mart, that this was an eventful auction. Forty people packed into the Horse and Jockey to witness what turned out to be a bumper afternoon. Lasting well over an hour, it was Alison’s brother, Robert, who handled the auction on the day. He had to work for it.

Robert had to offer the individual packages twice before the entire was put to the room. He switched between offering the entire and the lots on two occasions, before it was decided to proceed with selling the entire.

Lot one, a 25-acre parcel opened at €200,000, or €8,000/ac, before moving to €14,200/ac and being held. The second lot, a 50-acre holding opened at €450,000, or €9,000/ac, and moved to €640,000, or €12,800/ac. The combination of the two lots meant that bidding now stood at €995,000, or €13,270/ac. In black and white, this may have seemed straightforward, but getting to this point took work. The auction recessed on two occasions before Robert put the entire to the floor for the final time.

It was from here that the bidding took off. Two parties, a Leinster-based solicitor acting in trust and a farmer, began competing for the property. Offered at €1m to beat the combined total of the individual lots, it increased all the way to €1.56m before it was put on the market and sold under the hammer. It was the solicitor acting in trust who bought the farm.

The land

While the land has major potential, it does need work. It has been rented for the last number of years and with 25 acres currently in tillage, the land is certainly seen as arable. The balance of the farm is in grass.

Two farmers, a tillage and a mixed livestock farmer, have rented the land over the last number of years. There is no doubt that the location (the farm is situated 2km from Cashel) and influence of strong bidders allowed this holding to flourish at auction.