29 April 2025
Price of agricultural land forecast to rise in 2025
A major survey has forecast an increase in the price of agricultural land in 2025.
Published by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) and Teagasc, today, April 29, the Agricultural Land Market Review and Outlook Report 2025, which is based on February and March 2025 survey responses from 169 SCSI members from around the country, forecasts that the price of agricultural land nationally will increase by 6% on average this year.
This follows a 7% increase in the price of non-residential agricultural land in 2024, where average prices of €9,907/ac were recorded via the survey.
National and regional land sales prices
This year’s annual survey, the 12th in the series, also provides a county-by-county breakdown of the prices of good and poor-quality land.
The survey found that in 2024, Waterford had the most expensive land in the country with good quality land on holdings between 50 and 100 acres fetching an average sales price of €23,500 per acre. On the other hand, Mayo had the lowest land sales prices in the country at €3,075 for an acre of poor-quality land on holdings over 100 acres.
After Waterford, which also had the most expensive land on holdings under 50 acres at €23,000 per acre, comes Kildare at €18,680, with Cork in third place at €17,875, just marginally ahead of Tipperary on €17,865. In Carlow, the average price of good quality land on holdings of less than 50 acres is €17,417 per acre, while rounding off the top six places is Meath on €16,890.
In Munster, sales prices for good quality land on holdings under 50 acres ranged from €23,000 in Waterford to €9,875 in Clare. Prices for poor quality land ranged from an average of €8,750 in Waterford to €6,100 in Kerry.
In Leinster, sales prices for good land in 2024 on holdings of less than 50 acres ranged from Kildare’s high of €18,680 – up from €16,400 the previous year – to €12,042 in Offaly, while the prices for poor-quality land range from a high of €10,200 in Kildare to €6,500 in Longford.
In Connacht/Ulster, sales prices for good land on holdings under 50 acres ranged from an average of €13,280 per acre in Donegal – down slightly on last year – to €7,625 in Leitrim. Prices for poor quality land ranged from an average of €6,500 in Cavan to €3,792 per acre in Leitrim, the lowest price in the country for holdings under 50 acres.
Supply, demand and outlook
Commenting on the report findings, Dr. Frank Harrington, Chair of the SCSI’s Rural Agency Committee and Discipline Lead of Real Estate and Valuations at TU Dublin, says land prices are being driven by a continued low supply of land to the market and demand across major sectors for agricultural outputs including a thriving dairy sector.
“Dairy farms are projected to have a robust 2025 and will continue to significantly influence the demand for both owned and leased land. Over three quarter of respondents to our survey (77%) ranked dairy farmers as the main buyer type of agricultural land. In addition, 62% of respondents expect an increase in demand from dairy farmers in 2025, with just 2% of respondents expecting this demand from dairy farmers to decrease.”
“But there are also several other factors which are supporting the positive outlook. After a poor start, last year’s weather improved, and as a result crop yields performed better than expected. We have also seen a marked reduction in interest rates, which of course means lower finance costs.”
“That said uncertainty in the global economy, along with recently imposed U.S. tariffs on EU agricultural products are casting a long shadow. While it’s impossible to predict the outcome and potential impact, it’s clear these factors could introduce volatility into the land market and may temper some of the upward price momentum.”
Teagasc Economist, Dr. Jason Loughrey, says that the strong improvement in output prices for livestock and milk which emerged last year is continuing into this year.
“Last year, we saw strong price growth for milk – up 16% – and lamb – up 18%. On average, dairy farms and sheep farms recovered from a difficult 2023. Cattle prices were also up 4.5% compared to 2023 while the picture for pigs and cereals was more mixed. At the same time, overall input prices decreased with lower prices for significant inputs such as feed and fertiliser in particular.”
“It is estimated that the average net margin per litre of milk produced increased by 84% to 13.3 cent per litre last year. Prices were higher in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. This year, beef prices have reached record levels and were approximately 40% above the average for the first quarter of last year. So far this year lamb prices are up 19%.”
“However, the introduction of new tariffs on exports to the US is adding uncertainty for both the short and medium term. Exports of Irish butter to the US have grown rapidly in recent years and this market may become less lucrative given the imposition of 10% tariffs with the possibility that additional tariffs may be imposed.”
Dr Loughrey noted that aside from the impact of tariffs themselves, the prospect of a trade war is also affecting exchange rates and global economic growth prospects.
“Having been close to parity with the euro in January 2025, the US dollar has since weakened in value. This has negative implications for the euro value of Irish agri-food exports traded in dollars and positive implications for the cost in euro terms of imports of key agricultural inputs such as feed, fertiliser and energy, which are also traded in dollars.”
For further information, view the full Agricultural Land Market Review and Outlook Report 2025 here.