Kilkenny farmland fetching an average of €15,333 an acre - SCSI report

A new major survey is reporting that farmland in Kilkenny is now the fourth most expensive in Leinster.

The SCSI/ Teagasc Agricultural Land Market Review and Outlook Report found land prices are continuing to rise.
Holdings under 50 acres in Kilkenny saw good quality land going for €15,333 per acre – up from €14,200 in 2022, the SCSI report said.

It also found the most expensive land in the country was in Waterford with good quality land on less than 50 acres fetching an average of €20,000 per acre.

The land with the lowest value was poor quality land in Mayo where the average price for poor quality land on holding over 100 acres was €2,733 per acre. 

The average price of an acre of poor-quality land in Kilkenny last year was €8,667 up from €8,400 in 2022.

Meanwhile the price of an acre of good land on holdings between 50 to 100 acres last year in the county was €15,167 while the price of an acre of good land on holdings over 100 acres was €14,833.
The corresponding prices for an acre of poor land were €8,375 and €7,500.

Rural Agency
Auctioneer Anne Carton of P N O’Gorman in New Ross, who is a member of the SCSI’s Rural Agency Committee, said that while demand for land - primarily by dairy farmers - had continued to drive land sales and rental price increases last year, price expectations for 2024 have moderated due to a number of factors.

“Last year average rental values increased by just 4.5% across all farming uses despite predictions of double-digit growth similar to that which occurred in 2022. These increases did not materialise due in the main to poorer overall returns in farming and very poor weather conditions which dampened demand from some farming sectors - particularly in Leinster and Connacht / Ulster – and kept a lid on rental inflation.”

According to this year’s survey, after Waterford, the most expensive land on small holdings was in Tipperary, followed by Kildare. The average price of good quality land on holdings of less than 50 acres in Tipperary was €17,539 per acre, followed by Kildare on €16,400. Meath on €16,225, Carlow on €15,750 and Cork on €15,667 round off the top six places.
Nationally, Kilkenny lies in seventh place on €15,333 per acre just ahead of Wexford.

In Leinster prices for good land in 2023 on holdings of less than 50 acres range from Kildare’s high of €16,400 to €11,750 in Offaly, while the prices for poor-quality land range from a high of €9,600 in Kildare to €6,583 in Longford.

Transactions
According to the report, the Central Statistics Office data shows that the share of agricultural land, which transacts for sale annually is only around 0.5% and this is one of the main reasons for the strong demand for agricultural land for purchase and rental here.

In Munster, land rental values increased on average by 12% last year following on from a 13% rise in 2022. Prices per acre ranged from €297 for grazing only to €389 for potato crops.

By contrast in Leinster (excluding Dublin), rental values decreased by 2% following a 9% increase in 2022. Here prices ranged from €249 for grazing only to €429 for potatoes.

In Connacht / Ulster, average rents were relatively stable with a 4% increase in average rents for meadowing / silage land to €183 per acre, counterbalanced by a 3% reduction for grazing only land to €157.
According to the survey of 129 auctioneers and valuers from all over the country, there wasn’t any significant changes in volume of land sold last year compared to 2022, with executor / probate sales providing the main source of farmland sales.