Limerick farm vendors ‘land’ on their feet in 2023
AFTER a largely static land market for years, prices took a big leap forward in 2022 in Limerick.
The tone for the year was set in late 2021 when land in Lemonfield, Crecora sold for €19,000 per acre.
“I think that may have adjusted people’s thinking in terms of where land values were at,” said GVM’s Tom Crosse.
“Land values have been probably static at €10,000 per acre for good land for the past 15 years. In the last 18 months there has been a noticeable incline in terms of prices. If you were to look at our sales throughout the year I would respectfully suggest €15,000 per acre is where the ball landed for good land,” he added.
Some of the stand-out sales were 145 acres in Clarina for €2.85m; 90 acres in Bruff for €1.5m; 50 acres in Adare for €1.15m; 30 acres in Crecora for €580k; 98 acres in Croagh for €1.3m. Mr Crosse, along with GVM colleagues Richard Ryan and John O’Connell, recorded €20m in land sales in 2022.
The jump in the price per acre is down to a number of factors.
“Dairying, obviously, has grown into a very, very strong industry with milk prices, in particular, very buoyant enabling farmers to generate very, very good income. In turn, they are either investing in facilities or if land comes on the market in their vicinity they are the obvious punters,” said Mr Crosse.
Secondly, he says, is the increased return of business people purchasing land.
“It is very evident in the past two years and last 12 months, in particular, that business people are again eyeing up land as a good investment. They see it as a very solid asset and are participating in auctions and bidding on attractive holdings that are around the city or adjacent to villages or towns. They may have an interest in hobby farming but some are opting to lease it long term and avail of the attractive tax incentives that are there. Effectively they can lease it tax free,” said Mr Crosse, who compared leasing land with renting houses.
“There is no maintenance or issues around fixing cookers or leaking showers etc. The raw material is in the ground and the tenant takes care of the grass. So from that point of view it is attractive.
“We are even noticing that people who sold holdings up the country then came down to Limerick to buy,” said Mr Crosse.
The power of Kerry shares continues to fuel the long-standing trend of men and women from the Kingdom buying Limerick land.
It looks like vendors of farms will continue to “land” on their feet in 2023.