05 March 2025
Land Price Rises Set to Continue Amid Increasing Competition – Latest IPAV Farm Report
Overall increases in land sale and rental prices continue, according to the annual farm survey by IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, published on Wednesday (5th March) with some regions expecting growth of 5% to 10% in 2025.
The average price for an acre of agricultural grazing land reached €13,949/ac in 2024, up 8% from €12,840/ac the previous year.
The average price for forestry land rose 7.8% to €6,407 per acre from €5,940 while the average price for letting land by con-acre stood at €268.
Long-term grazing leases averaged €299/ac and tillage came in at €304 per annum per acre.
The report says that a combination of higher farm incomes, a shortage of land and increasing demand from both farmers and investors drove prices. Farmers made their presence felt in the land market, especially in the last quarter, and were happy to go toe-to-toe with business buyers and investors in the auction rooms.
Predictions are that while macroeconomic uncertainties exist, the overall strength of Ireland’s agricultural sector suggests that demand for land will continue to rise. Consequently, land prices are expected to follow suit, with a broad consensus among IPAV members that land prices will remain strong, with some regions expecting growth of 5% to 10%.
Pat Davitt, IPAV’s Chief Executive says supply has been constrained by traditional factors such as farmers wanting to keep land in the family and newer trends such as the movement towards long-term leasing and the increasing footprint of solar farms.
“At the same time competition has intensified with the forthcoming Nitrates Directive, and increasingly land being viewed as a tax efficient vehicle for wealth transfer,” he said. “Beyond that there are of course regional factors that vary across the provinces.”
Addressing forestry he said prices are still rising but the reality is, farmers and investors bear many risks, trees may not reach maturity with exposure to fire and wind damage, “which we saw to devastating effect in the recent storm.”
And he warned that unless some form of subsidy is introduced for the second and further plantations it will be very difficult to encourage farmers and investors to buy into additional forestry.
“Recent storms wrecked many forestry crops and the price paid for timber by sawmills has dropped dramatically due to the availability of so much windblown timber,” he said. This will leave the price of forestry land struggling and will likely cause the government programme of planting trees to come close to standstill, he predicted.
Today’s IPAV Farming Report concludes: In 2024, the Irish land market remained dynamic, with prices driven by supply constraints, strong demand from dairy farmers, high beef and sheep prices, and growing investor interest.
Forecasts suggest that the average dairy farm with a 100-cow herd producing 500,000 litres could generate an income exceeding €100,000, with Teagasc predicting an average dairy farm income of €113,000 in 2025.
Below is the detail from each of the provinces.
Ends