Land prices in Ireland are among the most expensive in the EU, with tillage lands in the south-east representing the highest value land sales in the country, according to data released by Eurostat.

The agency reported that last year, grassland went for around €5,500/ac and tillage ground made €12,880/ac.

Luxembourg was the country with higher priced tillage lands while both Luxembourg and Slovenia were the only ones to exceed Irish prices for grassland.

However, no up-to-date data from the Netherlands – where prices surpassed the €28,000/ac mark in 2020 - was included in this year’s figures.

The highest prices paid for permanent grassland in Ireland were paid in the south at an average of €7,200/ac paid in 2021, Eurostat’s figures show.

Permanent grassland made €6,090/ac in the east and midlands, as grass parcels in the north and west averaged out at €3,950/ac.

An acre of permanent grassland could be bought for an average of €570 in Bulgaria, the cheapest EU country for buying land in 2021.

Tillage

Arable land was dearer to buy than grassland in 2021 in the majority of EU countries.

Luxembourg’s tillage average was only country-wide value to exceed Ireland’s in Eurostat’s data but again, no Dutch figures were included in the reporting on last year.

Arable land in the south of Ireland made around €13,150/ac, falling slightly to €12,720/ac in the eastern and midland region. No tillage prices were reported for the north-west.

Tillage ground were reported to have made an average of €12,880/ac here in Ireland, only being bet by some regions of Italy, Spain and Luxembourg.

Again no data was included for the Netherlands, where tillage land topped the tables in 2020 at an average of €23,600/ac back in 2020.

Parcels under tillage on the Canary Islands in Spain set buyers back an average of €48,000/ac, although far lower prices in other regions of Spain brought the national arable average back to €5,180/ac there.