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Key National Indicators

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Agricultural Land Prices 2020 - Publication Delayed 

National Indicators by Year

In 2019, there was 33,436 acres of agricultural land sold in Ireland for a total value of €209.6 million at a median price1 of €6,534. This volume of agricultural land sold represented 0.3% of all the available agricultural land in Ireland and there was a 11% decrease in the volume of agricultural land sold when compared with 2018.

The mean price1 in 2019 was €6,267 per acre with a mean transaction size of 17.3 acres.

It should be noted that median and mean prices are not appropriate for measuring the evolution of land prices as the mix of agricultural land sold in different periods can change over time.

1 - The median price is the middle value when the transactions are sorted in order of price per acre. That is to say that half of the transactions are above the median price and half of the transactions are below it. The mean price is calculated by taking the total money spent on agricultural land in the year divided by the total area of land sold. The advantage of taking the median price over the mean price is that it is not skewed by extremely large or small values and therefore gives a better idea of the typical value. Further information on the CSO's use of median and means can be found here.

Table 1.1 - National Indicators by Year
 Median Price in IrelandAverage Price (€ / ac) in IrelandNo. of Transactions of Agricultural Land in IrelandVolume of Transactions of Agricultural Land in IrelandValue of Transactions of Agricultural Land in Ireland
Year€ / ac€ / ac Acres€ Million
20176,6264,8831,59132,990161.080
20186,4445,6312,09537,436210.784
20196,5346,2241,92633,274207.085

National Indicators by Land Type

Using information from the CSO's Census of Agriculture, it is possible to assign a land type to the transaction based on the Census of Agriculture Small Area in which the transaction occurs. (See background notes for more information.)

As shown in Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2 and Table 1.2, there is a large difference in the price of arable land and permanent grassland in Ireland. Arable land made up 3.7% of the total agricultural land sold in Ireland, however, it accounted for 6.72% of the total value of agricultural land sold.

In 2019, the median price for arable land was €11,331 per acre while the median price for permanent grassland was €6,390 per acre.

X-axis label%
Percentage of Total Land Sold by Land Type
Permanent Grassland96.3
Arable Land3.7
X-axis label%
Percentage of Total Land Sold by Land Type
Permanent Grassland93.28
Arable Land6.72
Table 1.2 - National Indicators by Year and Land Type
 Median Price in IrelandAverage Price in IrelandNo. of Transactions of Agricultural Land in IrelandVolume of Transactions of Agricultural Land in IrelandValue of Transactions of Agricultural Land in Ireland
Land DescriptionYear€ / ac€ / ac Acres€ Million
Arable Land201710,50710,148801,20312.205
201811,82111,148891,73119.299
201911,33110,788731,07711.618
       
Permanent Grassland20176,3904,683151131,787148.875
20186,1865,363200635,705191.485
20196,3906,071185332,197195.467

Go to next chapter >>> Regional Breakdown