A 50.6 acre residential holding in Knockanree, Avoca, County Wicklow achieved a whopping total sales price of €1,055,000 at auction last week.
Auctioneer David Quinn had guided the property between €12,000 – €14,000 per acre prior to the auction and was stunned by the massive €21,000 per acre sale price the property achieved.
David noted that there had been “strong interest from local farmers and business people” and that he had “registered bidders from the neighbouring counties of Dublin and Wexford”. There were more than10 registered bidders in total.
The property was offered in three different lots: Lot 1: a bungalow and out-houses on c. 9.7ac; Lot 2: c. 40.9ac and Lot 3: the entire.
Lot 1 attracted plenty of early bidding and reached €270,000 after the first round of offers. Lot 2 began in a similar vein. With more than ten offers, a bid of €420,000 was on the table after the initial round of bidding.
The entire property was then offered to the room and it promptly received an offer of €700,000. With the entire property now commanding a higher offer than the individual lots, the auctioneer ran through Lots 1 and 2 again, seeking further offers. Brisk bidding on Lot 2 brought it as far as €500,000, however, an improved offer of €780,000 was then made on the entire.
Another round of bidding on Lots 1 and 2 resulted in a combined offer of €1,010,000 (€290,000 – Lot 1 and €720,000 – Lot 2) and with no further offers on the entire package, Lot 3 was withdrawn and David Quinn proceeded to sell the property in two separate lots.
Lot 1, comprising of a bungalow and out-houses on c. 9.7 acres attracted one further bid and sold for €295,000. There were three bidders and the purchaser was Dublin-based.
Lot 2, consisting of c. 40.9 acres, had eight further bids before the hammer fell at €760,000. There were five active bidders on Lot 2 which was ultimately sold to a local business person.
The total sales price of €1,055,000 equated to an extraordinary result of approximately €21,000 per acre.
Speaking after the sale, David Quinn said: “Typical land values in the east Wicklow area range between €10,000 and €15,000 per acre. To achieve a price in excess of €20,000 per acre was a truly remarkable result.”
This article was written by Eoin Mac Raghnaill of the Wicklow People and can be accessed here.