What has been described as a record for agricultural land in the last three years was achieved on Friday at a packed auction room in the Oranmore Lodge Hotel. The auction of c64.55 acres at Bushfield and Moneymore East, Oranmore, achieved a record price of more than €15,000 an acre.
The auction, which saw a number of purchasers actively compete for the land, was conducted by Joe Greaney of Keane Mahony Smith auctioneers. The agents had been guiding €12,000 per acre and were aware that there was tremendous interest in the lands due to their location, just two miles from Oranmore village and eight miles from Galway city. Through the marketing campaign the agents became aware there was very strong interest in the property due to the number of surrounding farmers anxious to complement their existing holdings. It must also be noted that there are still cash buyers in the market, as one of the conditions of the sale was that the closing date should be two weeks from the signing of contract, which obviously means that there would be no dealing with banks either processing or issuing loan cheques. The land was mainly prime quality land, with substantial road frontage. The land had been rented for a number of years and in need of some attention, namely the boundary walls and some reseeding.
The packed auction room mainly comprised adjoining farmers, potential buyers, and solicitors. The auction kicked off with lot 1, which was the smallest lot.
Lot 1 comprised acres for which bidding opened at €110,000 until it was eventually sold, after 14 bids and keen rivalry by two parties, for €205,000.
Lot 2 comprised 28 acres and again two neighbouring farmers competed for the plot, which opened at €300,000 and eventually sold after 15 bids for €430,000.
Lot 3 comprised 26.55 acres and again two adjoining farmers were competing for the plot. Bidding began at €260,000 and it eventually sold after 17 bids for €336,000.
The lands in total comprised 64.55 acres, and were sold at a record €15,042 per acre which underlines the resurgence of interest in farmland.
