Dundalk farm tops €17,000 an acre at auction

A 77ac residential farm at Heynestown, Dundalk, Co Louth sold in lots under the hammer of Joanne Lavelle of Michael Lavelle auctioneers, making an overall price of €1.337m or €17,141/ac.

The four-bedroom farmhouse with an array of sheds is located 1.5km east of the N52 Ardee Road and 2km south from exit 16 off the M1.

The former home of Mr Lavelle’s late brother, the roadside holding was bought by their parents in 1941.

They built it up as a mixed farm over the years and, in its most recent incarnation, it was a beef holding. Outside there are two yards, an older cut-stone courtyard and a modern yard with 20,000 sq ft of roofed accommodation with cattle-handling facilities and silage pits.

On auction day, the property sold in lots with the farmhouse and yards on 41.8ac, making €800,000. A 20.23ac parcel of ground in three divisions located in the townland of Dunmahon and 380m from the house was sold for €290,000.

At the Dundalk side of the M1, an 8.7ac piece at Mullaharlin Road zoned ‘Employment Mixed Use’ made €152,000 while the last piece, a 6.5ac parcel – located off the N52 Ardee Road in an area that is home to a number of one-off houses – made €95,000.

“This is a great reflection on the excellent land in Co Louth,” said auctioneer Joanne Lavelle about the overall sale.

“A farm of this quality is quite rare, but local demand is very strong.”