The average price paid for agricultural land in NI rose by 22% last year to sit at £13,958/ac, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Armagh has the most expensive land in Ireland with an average price of £19,775/ac, up 19% on 2021 levels. Down sits in second position across the island, with its average price jumping by 37% to £17,103/ac.

Average land prices in Tyrone (£13,858/ac), Derry (£12,962/ac) and Antrim (£12,322/ac) are all at record highs. Even Fermanagh, which historically has the lowest land prices in NI, saw a record when its average price rose to £8,492/ac, up 31% year-on-year.

Survey

The new figures come from our annual survey of land sales which covered 146 transactions across almost 4,000 acres in NI during 2022.

The land market in NI has pulled further ahead of the Republic of Ireland (ROI), where the average price rose by just 3% during 2022. When converted to euro, the average NI land price of €14,844/acre compares to €12,288/acre in ROI.

It means the north-south price differential sat at €2,556/acre last year, which is €1,209/acre more than the same analysis for 2021.

Local auctioneers indicate that farmers were more active in buying land in NI last year. Despite record high input costs, dairy farmers in particular, saw healthy profits during 2022 and were keen to re-invest in land.

Farmers with other non-farming income and businesspeople with an interest in farming also continue to bid on and buy agricultural land across all parts of NI.

However, unlike other parts of the UK, there is little evidence of companies buying up land in NI to offset greenhouse gas emissions. This is put down to parcels of land in NI being too expensive and too small.

Supply

Arguably the main factor underpinning the high prices is the extremely tight supply of land that comes on the market.

Records compiled by the Irish Farmers Journal show that 12,716ac were publicly advertised for sale last year. While the total area for sale is 7% higher than 2021, it still only represents 0.6% of the overall farmland area in NI.

In a separate survey of hill ground and rough grazing, the average selling price in NI last year was £2,976/acre. This represents an increase of £576/ac, or 24%, from 2021 levels.