More than 56,000ac of agricultural land were sold in Ireland in 2025, with a median price of €10,143/ac across categories.

This was according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which released its Agricultural Land Prices 2025 report on Friday (November 13).

The report said that a total of 2,672ac (4.7%) were arable land, which commanded a significantly higher median price of €16,942/ac

The remaining 53,942ac (95.3%) of agricultural land sold at the median price of €9,959/ac, consisted of permanent grassland, with the mean transaction size being 17ac, according to the report.

Commenting on the data, Samantha Walsh, statistician in the prices division at the CSO, said the 2025 figure for agricultural land sold nationally represented a 8.7% decrease on the 62,035ac sold in 2024.

Increased prices

The median price per acre in 2025 was 4.1% (€10,143) higher than in 2024, when it was €9,742, she said.

"Purchasers in Dublin and the mid-east (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) regions paid the highest median price per acre of €24,695 and €15,828 respectively.

Walsh explained that the volume of sales was highest in the west (Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon) region, with 12,888ac of agricultural land changing hands.

"This compares with 441ac sold in the Dublin region and 5,155ac in the mid-east region," she said.

Interpretation

According to the report, this publication presents estimates of agricultural land prices for both arable land and permanent grassland per acre at the state and regional level.

"In interpretation of these figures, allowance should be made for the fact that only a small amount of agricultural land is sold each year.

"In addition to this, certain agricultural land transfers are excluded from the data.

"For example, the volume of eligible land (i.e. all agricultural land sold minus excluded transactions) sold in 2024 was only 0.5% of the total agricultural land area as detailed in the most recent CSO Census of Agriculture," the report stated.