The land market in Sligo seems to be going in its own direction. For the seventh year in a row, the Irish Farmers Journal found a rise in average selling prices. Supply of farms for sale was down, again.

The number of farms that came on the market last year was 12, down from 22 the year before. The area involved was 625ac, down from 731ac in 2020.

Half of the farms were under 40ac and half were above. Four of the farms were residential. Four were offered by public auction, the remainder by private treaty.

Ten of the 12 farms that were put up for sale were sold by year-end. Average selling price was €9,478/ac. This was well up on the €7,897/ac of the previous year.

The highest price made was €21,711/ac. This was paid for a large holding located in the middle of the county, which was sold by private treaty. We cannot publish further details.

The lowest price paid was €5,880/ac. This was made at the auction by REA McCarrick and Sons of 108ac for land at Collooney and Ballymote.

It wasn’t the only large holding sold. Savills sold the 169.7ac Doonally Farm outside Sligo town in a private treaty sale, with no details of sale price made public. The asking price had been €1.3m.

Last year, drystock farmers were the dominant buyers in Sligo. This year is a different story – two-thirds (67%) of the holdings that sold were bought by business buyers. The category includes farmers with significant off-farm income, business owners and other investors.

The remaining holdings that sold were shared between beef and other categories of farmers.