THE PRICE of farmland has stabilised and is now making an average of €10,131 per acre nationally, a marginal increase on last year according to a survey by property consultants, Knight Frank Ireland.
Its survey of sales for the first six months of 2010 found prices have increased nationally by about €450 per acre on average. The national average price paid last year was €9,678 per acre.
In this latest mid-term survey the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow region had the highest average price at just over € 16,139 per acre, significantly up from the 2009 Knight Frank Ireland annual survey findings, which showed an overall value of €10,920 per acre.
The second average highest price was in the southeast and counties such as Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, where the value of an acre this year averaged €13,334.
The lowest was in the north-west region, counties Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, where the average price paid was € 7,039 per acre.
The midland region, comprising Meath, West Meath, Offaly, Longford and Laois, averaged € 8,911 per acre.