Over 60,000ac of agricultural land across the country was sold last year at the median price of around €9,000/ac, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Agricultural Land Prices 2023 report published today (Thursday, October 31) shows that the national median price of arable land was €16,275/ac while the national median price for permanent grassland was €8,887/ac.
The highest volume of agricultural land was sold in the west (Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon), while the region also recorded the lowest median price per acre.
CSO
Commenting on the data, Kieran T. Healy, statistician in the CSO Prices Division, said: “In 2023, 60,344 acres of agricultural land were sold nationally, a decrease of 2.5% on the 61,875 acres sold in 2022, and down 0.4% on the 60,610 acres sold in 2021.
“The median price per acre was €9,084 in 2023, 12.2% higher than in 2022 when it was €8,094.”
Healy noted that arable land commanded a significantly higher median price of €16,275/ac when compared to permanent grassland at €8,887/ac.
He added that buyers in Dublin and the mid-east (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) regions paid the highest median price per acre of €15,048/ac and €14,398/ac respectively.
“The land was most affordable in the west (Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon) region where the median price was €6,745 per acre.
“The volume of sales was highest in the west region, where 13,637ac of agricultural land changed hands.
“This compares with 127ac sold in the Dublin region and with 5,199ac in the southeast (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford) region,” Healy said.
Land
The report shows that the average transaction size of land sales in 2023 stood at 18.3ac.
A total of 2,928 acres (4.9%) were arable land, the remaining 57,416ac (95.1%) of agricultural land was permanent grassland.
The total value of sales amounted to €526.4 million, an increase of 0.9% on the €521.7 million recorded in 2022.
Arable land accounted for €43.2 million (8.2%), while €483.2 million (91.8%) was spent on purchases of permanent grassland.