Two Laois farms were recently sold by local auctioneer Hennessy Auctioneers – with a 75-acre holding in Emo going for €1.15million, a substantial price of €15,300 per acre.
An executor’s sale, the land, which had been rented in recent years, had been originally due to be sold by public auction.
But it’s believed that the interest of one strong contender meant it was sold privately within the last couple of weeks.
The buyer was a mixed farmer, dealing in beef, dairy and tillage and the land was all laid out in one block.
Elsewhere, 21 acres at Townparks between Mountmellick and Rosenallis recently sold for €260,000, or €12,300 an acre.
This sold at auction having opened originally at €180,000 or €8,600 an acre and was placed on the market after the third round of bidding reached €250,000
This land was located just 2km from Mountmellick and had extensive road frontage on the R422.
Those two recent sales are both above the average per acre price of agricultural land in Laois.
In 2017, the average price of land sold in the county was €11,926 which was over €2,000 more than what it was in 2016, according to the Irish Farmers Journal land price survey.
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