The prices paid for agricultural land in the first quarter of this year increased by 2.5 per cent, reversing the fall experienced in the last quarter of 2002.
Preliminary figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office showed that in the January-March period this year, the average price being paid per hectare was €13,445 (€5,445 per acre).
While the average price was 5.8 per cent below the prices paid in the first quarter of 2002 it showed an increase on the €13,127 per hectare paid in the last quarter of 2002.
The average price being paid for land jumped to almost €15,000 in the July/September period of 2001, but has declined since then.
It peaked again in July/September last year when the average price reached €14,617 per hectare (€5,915 per acre) but declined over the next six-month period.
The CSO figures showed that the average land transaction size in the first quarter of the year was 9.6 hectares which was a decrease of 19.3 per cent over the last quarter of 2002.
The figures showed wide regional variation in the prices being paid in the State with the highest prices being paid in the mid-east region, €17,250 per hectare last year.
The Border region recorded the lowest average price, which came in at €11,882 per hectare, with the west the next lowest at €12,119 per hectare. The average for the State last year was €13,674 per hectare.
Land prices in the Republic and Northern Ireland were among the highest in Europe in 2001 with Italy recording highest average payments per hectare at €14,266 in a table of eight countries.
Prices being paid in Northern Ireland were higher than those in the Republic at an average of €16,018.
The CSO warned that in interpreting the figures on land sales in the Republic, allowances should be made for the fact that only a very small amount of agricultural land comes on the open market each year.
In 2002, its figures covered only 0.1 per cent of the land farmed nationally in that year.