Up to €26,000 an acre for farms

FARMERS are out of the bidding in land sales, according to a report on 2005 rural property deals by the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute.

One IAVI member in Co Meath said it had been over a year since he sold a farm to a full-time farmer.

However, the report indicates it has been a good year for farmers selling land, with high prices attributed to a supply of property development money and the presence of hobby farmers, as well as a minority of sales to some prominent farmers still in the market to expand.