The Irish Farmers Journal Land Price Report exclusively reveals that the national price of land fell by almost 10% in 2015. The report, which gives a county by county breakdown of land values across Ireland, indicates that the average price paid for land in the Republic was €8,914/acre (down from €9,890/acre in 2014) and €11,649/acre in the North (down from €12,508/acre in 2014).

This is the sixth year in a row that the national average has failed to break the €10,000/acre barrier in the Republic. Since 2010, land values have been desperately trying to regain ground, but only to find that any gain is quickly diminished a year later by a drop in price.

Kildare was the most expensive county to buy land last year at €13,886/acre, followed by Dublin at €13,736/acre, Meath at €11,861/acre, Wexford at €11,214/acre and Kilkenny at €10,883/acre. In contrast, Leitrim was the least expensive at €4,869/acre followed by Clare at €5,391/acre, Mayo at €5,699/acre, Roscommon at €5,801/acre and Sligo at €6,089/acre.

At a provincial level, Leinster had the highest average at €10,271/acre, followed by Munster at €9,190/acre, Ulster at €8,093/acre and Connacht at €6,183/acre.

But price wasn’t the only thing to fall. The volume of land to the market in the south also fell. According to our analysis, a total of 74,629 acres were offered for sale last year – down from 86,408 acres in 2014, representing a 13.6% decrease. The report suggests that the increase in the number of long-term lease arrangements partly contributed to a decrease in supply.

The exceptional demand from farmers to enter a long-term lease coupled with the favourable tax relief for landowners have made these arrangements very attractive. Long-term leasing has the effect of tying up large tracts of land for a long number of years that might otherwise be brought to the open market.

Land supply fell in 22 counties, with the biggest drop experienced in Louth, Donegal, Dublin and Kilkenny. Cork had the most land offered for sale at 7,458 acres followed by Tipperary at 5,869 acres and Wicklow at 5,510 acres.

Success rate at auction

However, despite the fall in price and supply, the success rate at auction saw a marked improvement. Of the 502 farms that went to auction, 48% sold under the hammer – up from 38% in 2014. Private treaty is still the preferred route in terms of method of sale. Over two-thirds of the 1,654 farms that were brought to the market last year were offered for sale by private treaty. Interestingly, farms that sold at auction averaged €10,244/acre while those that sold by private treaty made an average of €8,413/acre.

The market is dominated by small parcels with 62.6% of holdings comprising less than 40 acres, with just over 8% accounting for 100 acres or more. Some of the bigger farms that sold last year included a 408-acre residential holding at Little Budds, Dysart, which made €1.95m; a 258-acre residential package near Nenagh that sold for €2.205m; a 177.7-acre farm close to Gowran that was knocked down at €3.025m; while a 148-acre residential farm near Portlaoise sold for €1.54m.

The 2015 national average of €8,914/acre is based on a total of 846 completed sales sold by private treaty, public auction and tender. These transactions amount to 35,959 acres recorded as sold, which represents 48.2% of the 74,629 acres offered for sale. This is the highest number of successful transactions recorded since the inception of first Irish Farmers Journal Land Price Report nine years ago. Bearing in mind that almost 12,000 fewer acres were offered for sale, the total value of land sales in 2015 was €316m – down from €395m in 2014.