REA Coonan, Maynooth and Celbridge, last week achieved their record sale price for the spring/summer selling season when a 16-acre non-residential farm at Courtown Little, Kilcock, Co Kildare was knocked down for almost double its asking price.

The sale saw the farm, which was guided at €200,000, sold for €370,000 or €23,125/acre under the hammer. Located just under two miles from the village of Kilcock, and 20 miles from Dublin, the farm is laid out in three divisions and includes 11 stables, a tack room and a sand arena.

The 16-acre parcel opened at €150,000 and with the help of four active bidders, it quickly rose in increments of €10,000 to €340,000. Coonan withdrew the property to discuss the position with the seller, and at that it was declared on the market.

The bidding then continued in €5,000 advances until the hammer fell at €370,000 to a local solicitor bidding in trust for the buyer.

Selling agent Willie Coonan said afterwards that the record sale was another example of the huge interest in small farms in the Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin area.

Co MEATH FARM BEATS GUIDE PRICE by €80,000

A 25-acre farm at Ross, Tara, Co Meath, which includes a two-storey farmhouse and substantial farmyard, made €80,000 over its guide at public auction last week.

The compact farm was offered in one lot before a packed auction room last Thursday by selling agent Stephen Barry of Raymond Potterton Auctioneers, Navan.

The bidding opened at €400,000 and with the help of four active bidders, it was taken along in €10,000 increments until it reached €460,000.

From here on in, the offers from the floor increased €5,000 at a time but the pace remained brisk.

The farm was placed on the market at €520,000 and the offers kept flowing before it was eventually knocked down to a Meath native, with farming and equine interests, for €580,000, well in excess of the €480,00 guide price.