1 June 2005

Agricultural Land Sales Land price and transaction size

Quarter 4 2004

€/ha

€/ha

ha

transaction size

19,500

25

Price per hectare

Average transaction size

Jul-Sep 2004

€14,610

9.4 ha

Oct-Dec 2004

€18,442

9.9 ha

% change

+26.2%

+5.3%

18,000 20

16,500 15,000

15

13,500 12,000

10

10,500 9,000

5

7,500 0

6,000 2001

2002

2003

2004

Land price up 26.2% in fourth quarter 2004 Preliminary figures for October-December 2004 indicate that the average price paid per hectare (ha) of agricultural land was €18,442 (€7,463 per acre). This is 24.8% above the fourth quarter of 2003 and 26.2% above the third quarter of 2004. See Table 2. The averages were calculated by the CSO from returns processed by the Valuation Office. They are subject to revision, particularly for the most recent quarter, as further returns become available to the Valuation Office.

Published by the Central Statistics Office, Ireland. Ardee Road Dublin 6 Ireland

Skehard Road Cork Ireland LoCall: 1890 313 414

Tel: +353-1 498 4000 Fax: +353-1 498 4229

Tel: +353-21 453 5000 Fax: +353-21 453 5555

Both offices may be contacted through any of these telephone numbers. CSO on the Web: www.cso.ie and go to Business Sectors: Agriculture and Fishing Director General: Donal Garvey Enquiries: Statistics Sales

Agriculture Section, ext 5356 [email protected] Information Section, ext 5032 [email protected]

ã Central Statistics Office The contents of this release may be quoted provided the source is given clearly and accurately. Reproduction for own or internal use is permitted. Ref 94/2005

ISSN 1393-3280

Preliminary figures for 2004 indicate that the average price paid per hectare (ha) of agricultural land was €16,156 (€6,538 per acre). This is an increase of 12.3% on 2003. The average price per ha of €22,370 for the Mid-East region of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow was the highest regional price recorded. This was followed by the Midlands (€17,669) and the South-East (€17,120). The lowest price was recorded in the Border (€12,819). See Table 6. In interpreting the figures, allowance should be made for the fact that only a small amount of land is sold on the open market each year. See Background Notes. For more information contact Kevin Hodnett at 021-453 5367 or Barry Noonan at 021-453 5356.

Table 1 Average agricultural land transaction size

Year

hectares

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

11.0 10.4 9.8 9.7 8.8

11.6 10.4 11.2 9.7 8.1

11.1 12.0 9.7 8.8 9.4

10.7 11.7 11.2 9.5 9.9

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Table 2 Average price per hectare of agricultural land

Year

euro/hectare

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

11,429 12,649 14,241 13,723 15,217

12,542 14,132 13,122 14,637 16,396

14,473 14,881 13,915 14,441 14,610

12,819 13,924 12,977 14,783 18,442

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Table 3 Average price per acre of agricultural land

Year

euro/acre

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

4,625 5,119 5,763 5,553 6,158

5,076 5,719 5,310 5,923 6,635

5,857 6,022 5,631 5,844 5,912

5,188 5,635 5,252 5,982 7,463

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Table 4 Number of agricultural land transactions

Year

number

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

318 183 126 224 154

315 208 172 259 134

222 137 175 218 196

203 145 179 184 170

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

All tables exclude (1) transactions in Dublin (2) transactions outside the range 500 euro - 35,000 euro per hectare (3) transactions under 2 hectares and (4) transactions where no areas are provided. All figures are subject to revision.

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Table 5 Average agricultural land transaction size by region

hectares

Regional Authority Year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

State Border

Mid-East

Midland

Mid-West

South-East

South-West

West

8.5 8.8 10.0 7.9 7.9

14.1 17.4 13.7 12.0 10.3

13.0 12.1 10.3 10.8 10.0

12.3 11.7 11.9 10.6 10.4

10.8 10.3 10.8 10.6 9.1

14.4 12.3 12.7 10.6 12.4

9.0 8.6 7.8 7.1 7.2

Table 6 Average price per hectare of agricultural land by region

11.1 11.0 10.5 9.5 9.1

euro/hectare

Regional Authority Year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

State Border

Mid-East

Midland

Mid-West

South-East

South-West

West

10,790 11,544 11,561 13,475 12,819

18,044 19,459 17,338 18,936 22,370

12,284 13,571 13,122 13,857 17,669

12,171 14,018 13,707 14,140 16,366

13,883 14,291 14,721 16,269 17,120

12,502 14,607 13,696 13,348 16,842

10,267 10,351 11,817 12,049 14,164

12,664 13,870 13,478 14,385 16,156

All tables exclude (1) transactions in Dublin (2) transactions outside the range 500 euro - 35,000 euro per hectare (3) transactions under 2 hectares and (4) transactions where no areas are provided. Regions established by the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities Establishment Order, 1993) Border Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan, Sligo Mid-East Midland Laoighis, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath Mid-West South-East Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary SR, Waterford, Wexford South-West West Galway, Mayo, Roscommon Dublin

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Kildare, Meath, Wicklow Clare, Limerick, Tipperary NR Cork, Kerry Dublin

Table 7 Average price per acre of agricultural land by region

euro/acre

Regional Authority Year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

State Border

Mid-East

Midland

Mid-West

South-East

South-West

West

4,366 4,671 4,678 5,453 5,188

7,302 7,875 7,016 7,663 9,053

4,971 5,492 5,310 5,607 7,150

4,925 5,673 5,547 5,722 6,623

5,618 5,783 5,957 6,584 6,928

5,059 5,911 5,543 5,401 6,816

4,155 4,189 4,782 4,876 5,732

Table 8 Number of agricultural land transactions by region

5,125 5,613 5,454 5,821 6,538

number

Regional Authority Year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

State Border

Mid-East

Midland

Mid-West

South-East

South-West

West

248 138 110 157 129

100 59 53 80 37

130 100 92 94 101

138 94 81 137 80

144 82 84 108 94

124 76 82 109 67

174 124 150 200 146

1,058 673 652 885 654

All tables exclude (1) transactions in Dublin (2) transactions outside the range 500 euro - 35,000 euro per hectare (3) transactions under 2 hectares and (4) transactions where no areas are provided. Regions established by the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities Establishment Order, 1993) Border Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan, Sligo Mid-East Midland Laoighis, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath Mid-West South-East Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary SR, Waterford, Wexford South-West West Galway, Mayo, Roscommon Dublin

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Kildare, Meath, Wicklow Clare, Limerick, Tipperary NR Cork, Kerry Dublin

Table 9 Average price per hectare by transaction size range and region Year and transaction size (hectares)

euro/hectare

Regional Authority State Border

Mid-East

Midland

Mid-West

South-East

South-West

West

2000 2 -< 5 5 - < 10 10 - < 15 15 - < 20 >= 20

12,576 10,535 11,285 9,963 9,685

17,336 17,420 17,477 16,421 18,630

13,832 11,934 11,280 13,642 12,119

14,857 13,480 13,732 10,094 11,508

17,465 14,154 14,069 10,831 13,333

14,673 13,068 12,452 11,757 12,351

12,534 10,028 10,390 7,940 10,181

14,276 12,341 12,317 11,263 12,958

2001 2 -< 5 5 - < 10 10 - < 15 15 - < 20 >= 20

14,656 10,644 6,956 11,748 12,925

18,031 14,748 23,104 13,474 20,875

15,128 13,181 13,735 11,748 13,796

14,020 15,439 10,564 12,586 15,681

17,761 16,352 16,925 12,412 11,768

15,628 16,472 13,547 14,402 14,244

13,035 10,142 8,815 9,109 10,650

14,982 12,967 12,542 12,362 15,127

2002 2 -< 5 5 - < 10 10 - < 15 15 - < 20 >= 20

12,738 12,727 14,648 10,841 8,615

27,108 19,597 16,486 19,285 15,803

15,398 14,828 10,788 12,761 13,272

17,376 15,666 11,384 20,762 12,097

18,090 15,769 14,070 10,681 14,884

15,686 14,010 14,149 15,637 12,170

13,308 10,485 11,558 13,362 11,619

15,322 14,115 13,010 13,895 12,647

2003 2 -< 5 5 - < 10 10 - < 15 15 - < 20 >= 20

14,437 13,920 12,332 7,116 18,766

17,815 19,306 23,831 11,991 20,802

13,988 14,664 14,629 12,957 13,452

16,363 14,189 12,140 13,956 14,855

18,952 15,509 17,292 16,120 15,339

17,968 16,450 14,264 12,412 9,743

12,592 11,809 13,276 9,463 11,611

15,267 14,471 14,358 12,133 14,990

2004 2 -< 5 5 - < 10 10 - < 15 15 - < 20 >= 20

14,135 18,189 11,474 10,005 7,670

20,277 19,830 22,156 * 24,299

19,217 18,600 16,158 14,647 19,375

19,178 15,312 14,796 12,581 19,304

20,889 17,494 16,113 15,810 16,256

16,319 17,741 15,990 16,233 17,087

14,379 15,476 11,525 15,863 14,031

16,709 17,256 14,616 14,124 16,815

* Not enough transactions to give a representative price for this cell.

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Central Statistics Office

Agricultural Land Sales

Background Notes Data Source

Coverage

The data were obtained from the Particulars Delivered (PD) form which is processed by the Valuation Office. This form is usually completed by the solicitors representing the transferor and the transferee when land is sold. Appreciation is extended to the Valuation Office for providing the CSO with the data for this release. Completed land sales both by auction and by private treaty are included. If a farm is sold in separate contracts then each contract is regarded as a single transaction and only included in this release if it is classified as agricultural land on the PD form and within the specified area and value thresholds. Transactions outside the range €500 per hectare (€202 per acre) to €35,000 per hectare (€14,164 per acre) have been excluded on the basis that the purchaser may intend to use the land for non-agricultural purposes or that a non-market (family, relatives, etc.) element may be involved in the transaction. Transactions in Dublin have been excluded because of uncertainty about whether the land would continue to be used for agricultural purposes. Similarly transactions under 2 hectares have been excluded. There were 151 transactions in 2004 excluded for these reasons. The value of these was €90m. Identifiable forestry transactions have also been excluded on the basis that the land will not be used for agricultural purposes. In interpreting the figures, allowance should be made for the fact that only a small amount of agricultural land is sold on the open market each year. For example, the year 2004 transactions covered by this release account for only 0.1% of the area farmed nationally in that year. There are wide variations in selling prices arising from differences in the quality of the land, its location and other local factors as well as market forces such as changing agricultural policy, inflation and the demand for land. 1 EU Price of agricultural land per hectare

Country

1999

Denmark

€ 2000

2001

10,490

11,001

Finland

3,426

3,933

12,882 4,039

Germany

8,939

9,081

9,416

Ireland

11,264

12,664

13,870

Italy

13,177

13,654

14,266

Luxembourg2

53,297

-

-

1,749

1,989

1,988

Sweden United Kingdom England

10,025

11,651

11,615

Wales

7,464

8,189

9,262

Scotland

3,795

5,244

6,596

12,550

15,807

16,018

Northern Ireland

1

Methodology is not harmonised across Member States. Data for other Member States not available.

2

1999 is the latest available estimate.

Source: New Cronos database, Eurostat (except Ireland, CSO).

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