The average price of farmland rose 15 per cent nationally from 2019 to 2020, according to the Irish Farmers Journal.
Last year saw the average price of land reach the highest recorded since the financial crash of 2008, after rising to €10,316 per acre — up from €8,971 per acre in 2019.
The annual county-by-county land price report from the farming newspaper said land prices had previously not moved far above €9,000 per acre for the past five years.
However, it also noted that the number of acres of farmland offered for sale in 2020 fell by 25.4 per cent in a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report found that auctioneers had reported some landowners had postponed selling until the pandemic was over, amid concern that their holdings would not make full market value.
Farmhouse interest
The land price report also noted that farmhouses for sale were of growing interest, with auctioneers monitoring demand for land with residences in 2021 given reports of higher interest among city-based families in relocating to rural areas while working from home.
The report found the three counties with the highest land prices were Donegal, Kildare and Waterford.
Prices in Kildare have been driven by proximity to Dublin, it said, with the expansion of towns in the county and the building of roads exerting upwards pressure on farmland and bringing the average price per acre in 2020 to €16,446.
Waterford also experienced a major price jump to €16,367 per acre last year, amid ongoing demand for farmland for dairying and as a number of larger holdings were put on the market.
Donegal saw average farmland prices increase to a €17,716 per acre in 2020, from just €6,089 per acre the year before, due to a limited number of farms put up for sale.
The lowest farmland prices in 2020 were found in Leitrim, Clare and Mayo, hovering in the €4,000 to €6,000 per acre range.
The Irish Farmers Journal said that recent years had seen more land bought by business people. This group bought 150 farm holdings or 33 per cent of the 455 holdings for which the buyer was known last year.
The 72-page annual Agricultural Land Price Report is available in full in this week’s issue of the Irish Farmers Journal.
