Eight acres of agricultural land on the outskirts of Clonakilty has sold at auction for €455,000 – or almost €57,000 an acre.
BY EMMA CONNOLLY
EIGHT acres of agricultural land on the outskirts of Clonakilty has sold at auction for €455,000 – or almost €57,000 an acre.
The plot at Gallanes guided at €200,000, or €25,000 an acre, well above the national average of around €11,000 an acre.
However, Clonakilty auctioneer Henry O’Leary described the sale to an unknown Irish buyer as ‘an incredible, record-breaking’ one.
The compact holding is in a prominent location where the Timoleague Road meets the N71, opposite Clonakilty Community Hospital.
Mr O’Leary said: ‘We started at five bidders at €300,000; then it went to four at €350,000. We went to private auction with three bidders and it was bought in trust by a solicitor for an Irish buyer.’
The site is just after a crop of corn and is currently laid out in stubble and as it’s without planning permission is likely to be used for agricultural purposes.
Mr O’Leary said he would have sold land during the year for around €15,000 an acre however what made the Gallanes site so attractive was its proximity to the site and lack of waste.
‘Also, people are comfortable putting their money into land,’ he said.
All bidders on this land were Irish, however 50% of his buyers during 2017, both land and residential, were from overseas. ‘From the UK, Europe, South Africa, US and Australia; all looking to live in West Cork full time,’ he said.
This sale follows a Kinsale holding of 16 acres making €30,000 an acre at the end of 2017. The farm at Ballymackean, five minutes from the Old Head, was sold in trust for €680,000.
That broke down to €200,000 for a house and outbuildings, with the land making €480,000.
