The national average price paid for land in 2018 was €9,072/ac. This represents a slight 0.18% decrease on the 2017 average of €9,088/ac.

Average values increased in 12 counties, with the greatest increases seen in Dublin at 75.4%, Kilkenny at 28.9%, Waterford at 23.3% and Donegal at 21.5%.

Average values decreased in 14 counties, with the greatest reduction seen in Wicklow at 24.8%, followed by Offaly at 19.6%, Meath at 15.2% and Longford at 13%.

Ten counties recorded an average of €10,000/ac or more, the same as 2017. Eight counties recorded prices of €7,000/ac or less.

Dublin recorded the highest average price at €21,983/ac, which was heavily influenced by speculators in the market.

This was followed by Kildare at €13,621/ac, Louth at €13,169/ac, Kilkenny at €12,437/ac, Carlow at €12,048/ac and Wexford at €11,266/ac.

Leitrim, once again, had the lowest average at €5,222/ac followed by Mayo at €5,598/ac, Roscommon at €6,009/ac, Cavan at €6,605/ac and Sligo at €6,761/ac.

Leinster recorded the highest average at €10,969/ac followed by Munster at €9,880/ac, Ulster at €7,656/ac and Connacht at €6,087/ac.

Business paid the top prices among the enterprises last year at €12,022/ac. Tillage paid €11,585/ac while equine average prices stood at €11,144/ac.

Dairy farmers paid €9,730/ac nationally while beef farmers lagged behind on €8,082/ac. Sheep farmers paid an average of €6,331/ac with forestry paying €4,919/ac.

The average price paid for farms under 40 acres stood at €8,996/ac, down 1% from 2017 figures.

Interestingly, the average price paid for larger holdings (over 40 acres) proved more expensive at €9,230/ac.

Supply of land

The amount of land brought to the market last year fell 11% to 70,246 acres compared with 78,350 acres in 2017.

In total, 31,687 acres were sold last year, down 6.4% from the 33,864 acres sold in 2017, an overall success rate of 45%.

A sum of 1,662 land parcels were offered to the market, up from 1,536 farms/land parcels in 2017.

Who bought the land?

The breakdown of who bought land in Ireland is interesting.

Over 33% of land bought was purchased by beef farmers. While this figure may seem high, beef farmers make up almost two third of farmers yet only account for one third of land sales.

Dairy contributed to 23% of transactions, yet make up circa 14% of all farmers, highlighting the strong year the enterprise had. Business people made up 17% of all land transactions. For more details, see the Land Report in this week’s paper.