Cheap land is all gone in Co Louth

Farmland prices have increased in Co Louth again.

Our average price for last year was €18,760/ac, up from €17,270/ac the year before.

The increase was €1,490/ac or 9%. This is the fifth straight year that prices rose strongly in the county.

Supply of land for sale tended slightly upwards although it was still relatively scarce. We examined 36 holdings that were placed on the market.

That was up from 30 the year before. We did our calculations on 18 holdings that had sold by year end and met our criteria, again an increase.

The farms that sold were in the range of €8,000/ac to €34,542/ac.

Buyers from Northern Ireland continued to be an influence in the north of the county, although less so in the south.

Raymond Potterton Auctioneers achieved a grand total of €4.375m for the 170ac residential farm at Banktown, Baltray, Co Louth. The land made €22,767/ac while the residence on 2.1ac sold for €550,000.

Tillage land

Kieran and McGee sold 57.9ac of tillage land outside Ardee at auction. The farm at Stickillin, near the town, sold for €2m or over €34,000/ac and was bought by a tillage farmer. The firm also sold a number of other holdings in the south of the county for good prices.

Watters Estate Agents and Property Partners Laurence Gunne had successful private treaty sales fetching good prices.

Farms under 40ac in size averaged €16,691/ac on sale while those over 40ac met stronger demand, averaging €20,829/ac.