Nearly €60 mill spent buying Laois and Midlands farmland in a year

Over 58,000 acres of agricultural land were sold nationally in 2021 for a median price of €7,501 per acre, according to a new analysis of figures which reveals nearly €60 million worth was sold in the Midlands.

The Agricultural Land Prices 2021 survey by the Central Statistics Office reveals that the value of land sold was worth €476,538,291 in total.

Laois is classed by the CSO in the Midlands region with  Longford, Offaly and Westmeath. Prices are higher across the Midlands than nationally.

A total of 6,572 acres of land was sold in the four counties returning a value of €58,664,981 over the 12 months.

The CSO says the median Midlands price per acre was €8,926 on the back of 359 transactions.

Nationally the CSO said that the median price per acre was €7,501 in 2021, 7.4% higher than in 2020, when it was €6,987.

The mean transaction size was 16.6 acres however, only 2,353 acres (4.0%) were arable land which commanded a considerably higher median price of €14,756 per acre in 2021, 22.6% above the value of €12,032 achieved in 2020.

Dublin and the South-East  (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford) were the most expensive regions to buy agricultural land with median prices per acre of €38,863 and €11,118, respectively.

The highest volume of agricultural land, 12,217 acres, was sold in the West (Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) where land was most affordable with a median price was €5,327 per acre while only 482 acres were sold in the Dublin region and 5,035 acres in the South-East.

The total value of sales of €476.5 represented an increase of 42.3% on the €334.9 million recorded in 2020. Arable land accounted for €47.9 million (10.1%), while €428.6 million (89.9%) was spent on purchases of permanent grassland.

 The CSO says the data presents estimates of Agricultural Land Prices for both arable land and permanent grassland per acre at the State and regional level. 

When interpreting, these figures the CSO says allowance should be made for the fact that only a small amount of agricultural land is sold each year. In addition, certain agricultural land transfers are excluded from the data. The volume of eligible land sold in 2021 was only 1.3% of the total agricultural land area as detailed in the most recent CSO Census of Agriculture.

Administrative data from the Revenue Commissioner’s Stamp Duty Returns is used to calculate the median and mean price of land sold.