Land prices in Wicklow have halved since the peak, with residential farms now making €10,000 to €12,000 per acre
REALITY HAS returned to the land sales in Co Wicklow according to Brian Clarke, of Clarke Auctioneers, Ashford, Co Wicklow. Despite the fact the recent Knight Frank land sales survey for last year established the average price of an acre in Wicklow/Dublin and Dublin at €13,055, Brian believes we are now back to “brass tacks”.
“Prices have been halved from the highs of €25,000 an acre during the boom to half of that and the average price per acre for a non-residential farm would now be between €7,500 and €10,000,” he said.
He said residential farms were making in the region of €10,000 to €12,000, per acre now the market had settled back to normal.
“It would be a good time to buy now if the banks advance the money which is a major factor in a slow growth in sales,” he said.
The recent sale by Paddy Jordan of Jordan Auctioneers in Newbridge of Kiloughter, Ashford, Co.Wicklow at auction for €2.9m. has put a bit of excitement into the property market there in that sector.
The property comprised a two storey farm house with extensive yards, 70 boxes, 2 automatic walkers, spa, lunging ring, 4 furlong gallop on c. 160 acres.
But according to Gordon Lennox of Lennox Estates, this sale was more typical of what was happening in the Celtic Tiger era than a reflection on todays market. “Land values here have dropped by 50 per cent just like the rest of the country and the days when professional people became hobby farmers, is long over,” he said.
“This drove the price of land mad when professionals could sell their Dublin homes for €4 to €5 million and come out into Wicklow and pay large sums is gone,” he said. He also said farmers who had received compensation for loss of lands to roadworks, were getting involved in consortiums to purchase land abroad.
“I understand Irish farm groups are buying land in Eastern Europe and Argentina where land is cheap and plentiful,” he said.
The number of farms on offer in the Wicklow area is low now at the beginning of the sale season but there are small parcels of farmland and forestry land in virtually every part of the county waiting for buyers.
