LAND prices in Galway surged past the €9,000 an acre mark in 2023 with a top price of almost €28,000 an acre achieved in one sale, according to the Farmers Journal Land Price Report published last week.

Compiled by Paul Mooney, the report points out that is the fourth year in a row that land prices have risen in Co. Galway with a ‘new interest’ in marginal land because of the premium payments that can be drawn down.

Good quality land across the county is now making between €8,000 and €10,000 per acre while ‘exceptional holdings’ with a ‘reasonable yard or house’ could have an asking price of €15,000 per acre.

The average price per acre for land in Galway during 2023 was €9.373 ranging from the ‘tops’ of €27,907/acre to the lowest of €1,659/acre.

Gort auctioneer Colm Farrell achieved one of the top prices in the province in 2023 when he sold a 107-acre farm near Gort for over €12,000 per acre – a price in excess of €1.28 million. The farm was bought by an investor and is now available for lease.

Connaughton Auctioneers sold 32.4 acres near Mountbellew for €13,157 an acre (just over €426k) while Paddy Keane Auctioneers sold a 62.6-acre residential farm in Laurencetown for €12,779 an acre (€800k).

Galway bucked the general trend in Connacht as land prices dropped in Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo although land prices did increase in Leitrim.

In Mayo during 2023, the average price for an acre of land was just under €6,300; in Roscommon over €8,500; Sligo, €8,300 and in Leitrim, close to €6,900 an acre. Clare land prices were up slightly at just over €9,000 per acre.

Nationally, according to Paul Mooney, land prices have ‘plateaued’ across the country although demand for land still remains strong.

He also pointed out that dairy farmers continued to buy, being ‘motivated to stay ahead of the nitrates changes’ while business and international buyers paid high prices for the small number ‘for marquee estates and properties that came on sale’.

“If global economic and geopolitical factors affected the market last year, they were a relatively small influence.

“Instead, bad weather, high costs, low prices and lower profits hit farmers’ purchasing power and confidence. Calculations on repayments capacity were tougher,” said Paul Mooney in the Farmers Journal report.

Taking the country as a whole the average price paid for a farm of land in 2023 was almost €12,000 an acre [€11,925] as compared to €12,228 in 2022, an average price drop of just under 3%.

Pictured: The 107-acre farm near Gort sold by Colm Farrell for over €12,000 an acre.