Despite expectations, the average price paid for land actually fell last year according to the Irish Farmers Journal Agricultural Land Price Report 2013. The report, free with this week’s Farmers Journal, exclusively reveals that the national average for 2013 was €9,400/ac – down 5.6% from €9,954/ac in 2012.

This may come as a surprise to agents in the east of the country as many experienced a bumper back end to 2013 with some exceptional prices achieved. In contrast, however, a number of agents in the west and Midlands experienced a tightening in the market with demand slackening as the year progressed, mostly as a result of limited access to funding.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the national average has remained below the €10,000/ac threshold since prices plummeted to €8,700/ac back in 2010.

Average prices fell in 15 counties and increased in nine last year. Such fluctuation indicates that the market is still vulnerable and at the mercy of a number of external factors. In the present climate, price is primarily influenced by the quality of the land that arrives on the market and who is in the vicinity to buy it. It’s clear that a significant price difference exists between good quality and marginal-type land, while the need to have at least one to two local or neighbouring farmers with purchasing ability is an absolute necessity if a sale is to be successful.

Dublin had the most expensive land at €16,115/ac, followed by Kildare at €13,114/ac and Louth at €12,628/ac. In contrast, Leitrim had the least expensive at €4,156/ac, followed by Mayo at €5,145/ac and Sligo at €5,879/ac.

Supply, on the other hand, showed a marked increase with over 11,000 more acres offered for sale last year. Almost 75,000 acres arrived on the market in 2013 – up 17.4% on 2012 – with Cork having the most land for sale at 10,316 acres, followed by Tipperary at 6,648 acres. This brings the national supply of land back to pre-recession levels following a plummet to 41,300 acres in 2010.

Northern Ireland

The picture is quite similar in Northern Ireland, where the average for the six counties fell slightly from £8,843/ac in 2012 to £8,726/ac in 2013. A lot more land changed hands, with 8,236 acres sold last year compared to 4,900 acres in 2012.

Read the full Agricultural Land price report 2013 here.