The regional indicators are based on the NUTS3 regions as detailed in the background notes. Similarly to national indicators, they also provide information on prices, volume and value of agricultural land. It should be noted that median and mean prices are not appropriate for measuring the evolution of land prices in a region as the mix of land sold in different periods can change over time. Due to a lack of arable land transactions in some regions, detailed information on arable land transactions is unavailable in those regions.
As can be seen in Table 2.3, there are very few transactions in Dublin each year. As a result, Dublin is excluded from the analysis of regional indicators, however, it is included in graphs and tables for comparisons.
With a median price1 of €10,117 per acre, the Mid-East was the most expensive place to purchase land in 2019. The Border region was the least expensive region with a median price of €4,905 per acre.
1 - The median regional price is the middle value of a list of transactions in that region when sorted in order of price per acre. 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.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Border | 5100 | 4962 | 4905 |
Dublin | 15176 | 15205 | 11343 |
Mid-East | 9488 | 10006 | 10117 |
Mid-West | 7187 | 8166 | 6426 |
Midland | 7709 | 7018 | 7333 |
South-East | 9339 | 9921 | 9464 |
South-West | 8743 | 8647 | 7855 |
West | 4424 | 4829 | 4939 |
The Mid-East was the region with the highest mean price2 per acre of agricultural land with an acre of land selling at a mean price of €8,776 in 2019. The lowest mean price per acre was in the Border region where an acre of land was €4,101.
2 - The mean price per acre was calculated by dividing the total value of the land sold in each region by the total volume of land sold in each region.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Border | 2783 | 3469 | >4905 |
Dublin | 7346 | 16686 | 7925 |
Mid-East | 9102 | 9013 | >8776 |
Mid-West | 7865 | 6288 | 7650 |
Midland | 4165 | 6524 | 7011 |
South-East | 9236 | 7796 | 8134 |
South-West | 8197 | 6308 | 7284 |
West | 2827 | 4290 | 4101 |
The West had the highest number of agricultural land transactions in 2019 with 562 transactions occurring. The South-East had the lowest number of transactions with only 139 transactions taking place in 2019.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Border | 369 | 442 | 377 |
Dublin | 11 | 15 | 13 |
Mid-East | 172 | 221 | 191 |
Mid-West | 156 | 222 | 263 |
Midland | 162 | 208 | 184 |
South-East | 111 | 123 | 139 |
South-West | 178 | 179 | 197 |
West | 432 | 685 | 562 |
The West had the largest volume of agricultural land sold in 2019 with 9,508 acres sold. The smallest volume of land was sold in the South-East region where 2,157 acres were sold in 2019.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Border | 8453 | 7770 | 5565 |
Dublin | 189 | 161 | 190 |
Mid-East | 2875 | 4411 | 3614 |
Mid-West | 2658 | 4283 | 5017 |
Midland | 4504 | 4018 | 3568 |
South-East | 1668 | 2233 | 2157 |
South-West | 3573 | 4145 | 3655 |
West | 9070 | 10416 | 9508 |
The highest value of agricultural land sold in Ireland was in the West, where close to €39 million worth of land was sold in 2019. The South-East had the lowest value of land sold in 2019 with €17.55 million worth of land sold.
2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Border | 23524613 | 26952777 | 27295790 |
Dublin | 1390500 | 2692471 | 1509370 |
Mid-East | 26169180 | 39753429 | 31719158 |
Mid-West | 20903168 | 26929323 | 38383500 |
Midland | 18761942 | 26214630 | 25013470 |
South-East | 15404449 | 17407380 | 17547979 |
South-West | 29287500 | 26148021 | 26620793 |
West | 25638392 | 44685634 | 38995560 |
Similarly to the national indicators, there is a relatively large price difference between arable land and permanent grassland in most regions. Outside of Dublin, the most expensive price per acre of arable land was in the Midlands region with a median price of €12,452 per acre in 2019. The highest median price per acre of permanent grassland was in the Mid-East at €10,017 per acre. The lowest price per acre for arable land was in the South-East with a median price per acre of €9,999 per acre and the lowest price per acre for permanent grassland was in the Border region at €4,905 per acre.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 4905 |
Dublin | 13978 | 7529 |
Mid-East | 10650 | 10017 |
Mid-West | 0 | 6426 |
Midland | 12452 | 7301 |
South-East | 9999 | 9386 |
South-West | 11805 | 7622 |
West | 0 | 4939 |
The Mid-East had the highest mean price per acre for arable land with a price of €11,634 per acre. The Mid-East had the highest price per acre of permanent grassland with a mean price of €8,382 per acre. The lowest price per acre for arable land was in the Midlands with a mean price of €8,860. The lowest price per acre for permanent grassland was in the West region with a mean price of €4,101 per acre.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 4905 |
Dublin | 14823 | 5443 |
Mid-East | 11634 | 8382 |
Mid-West | 0 | 7650 |
Midland | 8860 | 6971 |
South-East | 8874 | 8017 |
South-West | 11408 | 7022 |
West | 0 | 4101 |
The West had the highest number of permanent grassland transactions in 2019 with 562 transactions. The highest number of arable land transactions were in the Mid-East with 31.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 377 |
Dublin | 6 | 7 |
Mid-East | 31 | 160 |
Mid-West | 0 | 263 |
Midland | 5 | 179 |
South-East | 18 | 121 |
South-West | 13 | 184 |
West | 0 | 562 |
The region with the largest area of arable land sold in 2019 was the Mid-East with 439 acres sold. The West had the highest volume of permanent grassland sold in 2019 with 9,508 acres.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 5565 |
Dublin | 50 | 140 |
Mid-East | 439 | 3176 |
Mid-West | 0 | 5017 |
Midland | 76 | 3491 |
South-East | 294 | 1864 |
South-West | 218 | 3437 |
West | 0 | 9508 |
The Mid-East had the highest value of arable land sold in 2019 with a total value of €5.1 million. The West had the highest value of permanent grassland sold with a total value of €38.99 million.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 27295790 |
Dublin | 746870 | 762500 |
Mid-East | 5103038 | 26616121 |
Mid-West | 0 | 38383500 |
Midland | 675000 | 24338470 |
South-East | 2607475 | 14940503 |
South-West | 2485500 | 24135293 |
West | 0 | 38994560 |
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