Amount of land for sale in Ireland dropped by 20% last year

€2.8m for 212 acres in Wexford and €1.6m for 95 acres in Cork were some of the country's largest land sales at auction last year.

However, the amount of land for sale in Ireland dropped by 20% in 2019.

1,331 parcels of land were brought to market in 2019, according to the latest land prices survey by The Irish Farmers Journal.

Tax incentives for long term leasing and Brexit concerns are listed as the main reasons for the decline.

Meanwhile, the average price for agricultural land in Ireland last year was €8,971per acre - down 1.1% compared to 2018.

Author of the report, Odile Evans, outlines the areas where prices are the highest and lowest.

“In Dublin prices are over €18,000 an acre. In Kildare and Meath they’re quite high as well," she said.

“In fact, it’s all of Leinster really where you see an average price in the counties of over €10,000 an acre.

“The lower end of the scale then would be Connacht.

“Mayo had the lowest price this year. It was less than €5,000 an acre.

“Munster kind of sits between the two of those.

“[Prices are] quite high, particularly in the dairy strongholds like Cork and Limerick and those areas.”