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Key National Indicators

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National Indicators by Year

In 2015, there was 51,544 acres of agricultural land sold in Ireland for a total value of €304.5 million at a median price1 of €6,615.

The mean price1 in 2015 was €5,907 per acre with an mean transaction size of 20.6 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 value directly in the middle 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.

Table 1.1 - National Indicators by Year
 Median Price in IrelandMean Price 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
20136,9536,7413,00551,857349.576
20146,7606,5943,09756,273371.060
20156,6155,9072,50051,544304.493

 
National Indicators by Land Type

Using information from the CSO's Farm Structure Survey, 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 5.87% of the total agricultural land sold in Ireland, however, it accounted for 9.86% of the total value of agricultural land sold.

In 2015, the median price for arable land was €10,026 per acre while the median price for permanent grassland was €6,378 per acre.

X-axis label%
Percentage of Total Land Sold by Land Type
Permanent Grassland94.13
Arable Land5.87
X-axis label%
Percentage of Total Land Sold by Land Type
Permanent Grassland90.137375900267
Arable Land9.862624099733
Table 1.2 - National Indicators by Year and Land Type
 Median Price in IrelandMean 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 Land201310,01810,4921863,20933.671
201410,51110,5981944,31545.732
201510,0269,9331553,02330.031
   
Permanent Grassland20136,6676,494281948,648315.905
20146,5516,261290351,958325.327
20156,3785,657234548,520274.462

Go to next chapter >>> Regional Breakdown