The average price for farmland in Ireland is €11,925 per acre - down 3% on last year. 

The annual land price report from the Irish Farmers Journal surveys who is buying where and how much they paid.

Overall, prices are up in Leinster and Munster - but falling across Connacht and Ulster. 

The report's author, Paul Mooney, said there is still high demand for large farms and a number of large estates with period houses were purchased by international buyers.

“Very glamorous country estates with a hundred acres or more and a period type house would come on the market, they tend to sell by private treaty,” he said. 

“There’s a small number of buyers who’d be interested in these properties because the price would be quite high. 

“Often, the buyers would be coming from abroad; they’d be international business people and we saw that again in 2023.” 

Sheep farmer with flock on road in County Donegal, Ireland

The declining price of farmland contrasts with the price of housing in Ireland - which continues to climb. 

According to Daft.ie, the price of a home in Ireland increased by an average of 3.4% in 2023, with the average price of a home listed as €320,046 on the website. 

Price increases were largest in Connacht-Ulster, up 8.3%, and in Munster, up 6.8%.

Whereas prices rose 2% in Dublin and 0.8% in the rest of Leinster.

“Unfortunately for many people, the prices have moved on again,” Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers CEO Pat Davitt said. 

“It looks like they’re continuing to move on and going to move on in 2024 - unless something else happens in the marketplace.”

Although prices are expected to continue to increase, so too is house building, with the Central Bank estimating some 35,000 houses will be built this year - up from just under 33,000 last year.

Main image: Farmer in Ireland walking behind a herd of cows on a narrow country road on Valentia Island in County Kerry, Ireland.