The regional indicators are based on the NUTS3 regions as detailed in the background notes. Similarly to national indicators, they also provide information on prices, volume and value of agricultural land. It should be noted that median and mean prices are not appropriate for measuring the evolution of land prices in a region as the mix of land sold in different periods can change over time. Due to a lack of arable land transactions in some regions, detailed information on arable land transactions is unavailable in those regions.
As can be seen in Table 2.3, there are very few transactions in Dublin each year. As a result, Dublin is excluded from the analysis of regional indicators, however, it is included in graphs and tables for comparisons.
It should also be noted that some counties have moved NUTS3 regions since the Land Prices 2016 publication and as such there are discrepancies between the two publications. A detailed list of the new NUTS3 regions can be found in the background notes of this publication.
With a median price1 of €9,488 per acre, the Mid-East was the most expensive place to purchase land in 2017. The West region was the least expensive region with a median price of €4,424 per acre.
1 - The median regional price is the middle value of a list of transactions in that region when sorted in order of price per acre. The advantage of taking the median price over the mean price is that it is not skewed by extremely large or small values and therefore gives a better idea of the typical value.
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
Border | 5023 | 4857 | 5100 |
Dublin | 11241 | 17695 | 15176 |
Mid-East | 9296 | 9992 | 9488 |
Mid-West | 7126 | 6507 | 7187 |
Midland | 6331 | 6984 | 7709 |
South-East | 9834 | 9808 | 9339 |
South-West | 7782 | 7494 | 8743 |
West | 5167 | 4688 | 4424 |
The South-East was the region with the highest mean price2 per acre of agricultural land with an acre of land selling at a mean price of €9,236 in 2017. The lowest mean price per acre was in the Border region where an acre of land was €2,783.
2 - The mean price per acre was calculated by dividing the total value of the land sold in each region by the total volume of land sold in each region.
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
Border | 3597 | 3709 | 2783 |
Dublin | 10824 | 15130 | 7346 |
Mid-East | 9797 | 9291 | 9102 |
Mid-West | 6231 | 6560 | 7865 |
Midland | 6387 | 5583 | 4165 |
South-East | 9109 | 8581 | 9236 |
South-West | 6031 | 6048 | 8197 |
West | 4348 | 3775 | 2827 |
The West had the highest number of agricultural land transactions in 2017 with 432 transactions occurring. The South-East had the lowest number of transactions with only 111 transactions taking place in 2017.
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
Border | 536 | 370 | 369 |
Dublin | 21 | 10 | 11 |
Mid-East | 296 | 205 | 172 |
Mid-West | 340 | 190 | 156 |
Midland | 262 | 164 | 162 |
South-East | 267 | 133 | 111 |
South-West | 285 | 161 | 178 |
West | 649 | 486 | 432 |
The West had the largest volume of agricultural land sold in 2017 with 9,070 acres sold. The smallest volume of land was sold in the South-East region where 1,668 acres were sold in 2017.
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
Border | 11216 | 7278 | 8453 |
Dublin | 491 | 90 | 189 |
Mid-East | 5724 | 4828 | 2875 |
Mid-West | 7573 | 3776 | 2658 |
Midland | 5328 | 3393 | 4504 |
South-East | 5244 | 2675 | 1668 |
South-West | 6561 | 3675 | 3573 |
West | 11724 | 8267 | 9070 |
The highest value of agricultural land sold in Ireland was in the South-West region, where €29.29 million worth of land was sold in 2017. The South-East had the lowest value of land sold in 2017 with €15.40 million worth of land sold in 2017.
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
Border | 40348574 | 26992667 | 23524613 |
Dublin | 5310000 | 1358301 | 1390500 |
Mid-East | 56079246 | 44856861 | 26169180 |
Mid-West | 47185360 | 24774598 | 20903168 |
Midland | 34032260 | 18944154 | 18761942 |
South-East | 47764198 | 22953696 | 15404449 |
South-West | 39568962 | 22225089 | 29287500 |
West | 50975288 | 31206968 | 25638392 |
Similarly to the national indicators, there is a relatively large price difference between arable land and permanent grassland in most regions. Outside of Dublin, the most expensive price per acre of arable land was in the Midland region with a median price of €11,124 per acre in 2017. The highest median price per acre of permanent grassland was also in the Mid-East at €9,301 per acre. The lowest price per acre for arable land was in the South-East region with a median price per acre of €9,672 per acre and the lowest price per acre for permanent grassland was in the West region at €4,424 per acre.
The largest difference in median price between arable land and permanent grassland was in the Border region where arable land cost €3,548 more per acre than permanent grassland.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 5100 |
Dublin | 15176 | 20974 |
Mid-East | 10576 | 9301 |
Mid-West | 0 | 7187 |
Midland | 11124 | 7576 |
South-East | 9672 | 9288 |
South-West | 10544 | 8175 |
West | 0 | 4424 |
The Midland had the highest mean price per acre for arable land with a price of €12,403 per acre. The South-East also had the highest price per acre of permanent grassland with a mean price of €8,997 per acre. The lowest price per acre for arable land was in the South-West with a mean price of €10,297. The lowest price per acre for permanent grassland was in the Border region with a mean price of €2,783 per acre.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 2783 |
Dublin | 5562 | 10150 |
Mid-East | 10551 | 8809 |
Mid-West | 0 | 7865 |
Midland | 12403 | 4118 |
South-East | 11495 | 8997 |
South-West | 10297 | 7919 |
West | 0 | 2827 |
The West had the highest number of permanent grassland transactions in 2017 with 432 transactions. The highest number of arable land transactions were in the Mid-East with 36.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 369 |
Dublin | 7 | 4 |
Mid-East | 36 | 136 |
Mid-West | 0 | 156 |
Midland | 4 | 158 |
South-East | 16 | 95 |
South-West | 17 | 161 |
West | 0 | 432 |
The region with the largest area of arable land sold in 2017 was the Mid-East with 484 acres sold. The West had the highest volume of permanent grassland sold in 2017 with 9,070 acres.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 8453 |
Dublin | 116 | 74 |
Mid-East | 484 | 2391 |
Mid-West | 0 | 2658 |
Midland | 0 | 4478 |
South-East | 159 | 1508 |
South-West | 417 | 3156 |
West | 0 | 9070 |
The Mid-East had the highest value of arable land sold in 2017 with a total value of €5.11 million. The West had the highest value of permanent grassland sold with a total value of €25.64 million.
Arable Land | Permanent Grassland | |
Border | 0 | 23524613 |
Dublin | 643300 | 747200 |
Mid-East | 5111051 | 21058129 |
Mid-West | 0 | 20903168 |
Midland | 321500 | 18440442 |
South-East | 1833164 | 13571285 |
South-West | 4296174 | 24991326 |
West | 0 | 25638392 |
Go to next chapter >>> Background Notes