Farm Land Prices growth of 15percent
Posted on: 17/02/2012
There has been some very positive news for agriculture.
Farmland prices have increased by as much as 14.7%
nationally during 2011, which is highly promising for the
farming economy.
Again, for a consecutive year, most of the farmland was
purchased by farmers, with some even buying back, at a socalled discounted price, land that they had sold during the
boom for excessive money. 2011 was generally a good year
for farming and hopefully this positive trend will continue for
the year to come.
The average price paid throughout Ireland for agricultural
land in 2011 was 10,064 per acre; this represents an increase
of 14.7%, based on the average price of 8,776 per acre paid
in 2010.
When counties Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow are excluded from
the survey, the average price paid for farmland in the rest of
the country was 9,877 in 2011, compared to the considerably
lower figure of 7,669 in 2010. Thus, there is a much higher
overall increase at 28.8% countrywide when these counties
are excluded. Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow is the only region
in Ireland where the average price of farmland has in fact
decreased.
The total number of farms advertised was 391, out of which
there were a total of 161 sales completed. The survey is based
on 142 of these, as prices for 19 sales were undisclosed and
therefore could not be included. Over the entire country,
approximately 9,400 acres changed hands during 2011.
These are the findings of the 19th Agricultural Land Survey
carried out by Knight Frank Ireland. The survey is based on
reported farmland sales in the two main farming newspapers,
combined with research by Knight Frank.
Methodology
The survey is based on research by Knight Frank Ireland
together with agricultural land sales reported in the Irish
Farmers Journal and the Farming Independent, January to
December 2011.
The country is divided into 6 different regions, which are
detailed below. Each region is further broken down into 4
different size categories. Land sales of less than 20 acres
were generally excluded, as it was deemed that the land had
been bought as sites for houses or for investment purposes.
However, if it was specified in the reported sale that a farmer
had bought the land, then it was included in the survey.
Dublin/Kildare/Wicklow
There was a decrease of 13.3% in the price of farmland in the
Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow region. The average price paid was
11,056 per acre in 2011, representing a decrease from the
previous years 13,055 per acre.
Full report here: http://bit.ly/xLo1h8