Irish agricultural land values on average nationally continued to stabilise in 2015, according to estate agents Ganly Walters in a new national survey. For the second consecutive year the national average price was over €10,000 per acre.
The Ganly Walters Farm Market Survey 2015 estimates that more than €157 million was spent buying more than 15,200 acres during the year. However, that represents an 11% drop in the farmland market overall from 2014 levels when Ganly Walters estimated that more than €177 million was paid for 16,800 acres.
In its national survey on agricultural land prices, carried out annually by Ganly Walters and just published, it was found that a lower amount of acreage sold during 2015 had more of an impact on the market nationally than a slight drop in the average price per acre.
Both the volume of acreage sold and the value of overall sales were down on 2014 levels, but the drop in value was less significant.
The average price paid across the whole country for farmland in 2015 was €10,336 per acre – a decrease of only 1.8% from an average price of €10,526 per acre for sales in 2014.
This 2015 average price is 17% above the trough in 2010 when €8,776 per acre was recorded, but it is still as much as 39.4% below the peak price of €17,081 per acre recorded in 2008.
There has been a decrease of 5.7% in The Avondhu region with an average of €10,322 per acre in counties Cork, Tipperary and Limerick. Of the 10,700 acres brought to market, 3,078 acres were sold in 40 transactions compared to about 3,410 acres in 57 sales in 2014.
Prices averaged €10,322 per acre in 2015, down 5.7% from €10,943 per acre in 2014. These compare with a high of €19,946 in 2007 and a low of €7,911 in 2010.
