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Some €313m of farmland was sold in 2017, up over 5% from the previous year.
Non-farmers were a major source of competition for land in 2017, with businesspeople back investing in land as an asset.
The Irish Farmers Journal Land Price Report 2017 shows the national average land price in Ireland in 2017 was €9,088/ac, up 3.61% on the 2016 figure of €8,771/ac.
Kildare had the highest agricultural land value in 2017 at €14,020/ac, while Leitrim was the least expensive at €4,586/ac.
Listen to "Land Report on RTÉ" on Spreaker.
Dairy was the big driver of land prices last year, with counties Cork, Laois, Tipperary and Carlow among those seeing price increases of over 10%.
Tillage, beef and sheep farmers lagged behind as the dairy drive pushed on.
In all, land prices increased in 19 counties, with just seven counties recording a price drop.
Forestry investment
Forestry was once again a big player. The lucrative premiums and tax-free income on clearfell meant pension funds, private investors and indeed farmers regarded forestry as a solid low-risk investment.
This increased both competition and the base price of marginal land in many parts of Ireland, particularly in the west.
The supply of land was up 6.2%, with 78,350ac offered to the market, up from the 73,778ac offered in 2016.
Listen to "Land Report 2017" on Spreaker.
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