The total area of farmland that was publicly offered up for sale in NI during 2023 was almost 1,350 acres smaller than last year.

Records compiled by the Irish Farmers Journal show that 11,370 acres were advertised for sale, down from 12,716 acres in 2022.

It represents an 11% drop and is the smallest annual total in our dataset, which spans the last six calendar years.

The tighter supply of land available to buy has helped keep a firm floor in the market, with local auctioneers indicating that prices have continued to move upwards in many parts of NI.

The county with the tightest supply was the land market hotspot of Armagh. Only 782 acres were publicly advertised for sale in the county during 2023, which represents a 42% drop year on year.

Coincidentally, Fermanagh also had a 42% reduction in its total area for sale, with 1,060 acres on the market in the county this year.

The acreage publicly for sale in Tyrone fell by 22% to 2,552 acres, and a smaller reduction of 4% was seen in Derry, where 1,692 acres were advertised.

However, the supply of land for sale in Down increased by 21% to 2,314 acres and there was a 14% rise in the area on the market in Antrim, with 2,970 acres on offer.

Overall, there were 417 parcels of land publicly advertised for sale in NI last year, which makes the average property 27 acres in size.

Limited supply

The extremely limited amount of land for sale remains a key factor in underpinning the market and keeping land prices moving upwards.

For context, our calculations indicate that only 0.54% of the total grassland and arable area in NI was publicly made available for sale last year. At that rate, a given area of land will only be on the market once every 185 years.

Armagh had the smallest proportion of its farmland for sale this year, with 0.35% of its total agricultural area on the market.

Antrim was the county with the biggest proportion of land area on offer, although it still only equated to 0.7%.

The outlined figures only cover land that was advertised for sale in newspapers and online, so private sales are not included. Likewise, only land that can be described as arable grade, cuttable for silage or good-quality grazing, is included in our main dataset.

A separate set of records for hill ground and rough grazing show that 2,160 acres were advertised for sale in NI during 2023, which is a 50% increase on the year previous.

There were 19 separate lots of hill land publicly for sale over the year, which makes the average property 114 acres in size.

The acreage publicly for sale in Tyrone fell by 22% to 2,552 acres, and a smaller reduction of 4% was seen in Derry, where 1,692 acres were advertised.

However, the supply of land for sale in Down increased by 21% to 2,314 acres and there was a 14% rise in the area on the market in Antrim, with 2,970 acres on offer.

Overall, there were 417 parcels of land publicly advertised for sale in NI last year, which makes the average property 27 acres in size.

Limited supply

The extremely limited amount of land for sale remains a key factor in underpinning the market and keeping land prices moving upwards.

For context, our calculations indicate that only 0.54% of the total grassland and arable area in NI was publicly made available for sale last year.

At that rate, a given area of land will only be on the market once every 185 years.

Armagh had the smallest proportion of its farmland for sale this year, with 0.35% of its total agricultural area on the market.

Antrim was the county with the biggest proportion of land area on offer, although it still only equated to 0.7%.

The outlined figures only cover land that was advertised for sale in newspapers and online, so private sales are not included. Likewise, only land that can be described as arable grade, cuttable for silage or good-quality grazing, is included in our main dataset.

A separate set of records for hill ground and rough grazing show that 2,160 acres were advertised for sale in NI during 2023, which is a 50% increase on the year previous.

There were 19 separate lots of hill land publicly for sale over the year, which makes the average property 114 acres in size.