Ignore blip, land values to rise 5% in 2014

IT’S interesting that Knight Frank’s annual survey of farmland found a slight decline in land prices — and while it’s a mere blip on the screen at just €86 per acre less than in 2012, it could be seen as a dampening off in price inflation that looked fairly scary in the latter months of 2012.

And coupled with the slight decline found, Knight Frank have logged increased transactional activity all over the country, a good sign in itself — this could be extrapolated as indicating that sellers and buyers now believe it’s a fair market.

That’s an equilibrium that is hard to beat and is down to the current health of Ireland’s agricultural industry and to the confidence felt by farmers and their backers.