Agri land selling at €14,500 per hectare

Preliminary figures for January to March 2004 indicate that the average price paid per hectare (ha) of agricultural land was €14,665 (€5,935 per acre).

This is 7.8% above the first quarter of 2003 and 0.7% above the fourth quarter of 2003. The averages were calculated by the Central Statistics Office (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.

The average land transaction size was 9.0 ha in the first quarter of 2004. This is a decrease of 4.3% over the fourth quarter of 2003.

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.