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Fermanagh was the county in NI with the highest proportion of its agricultural land area publicly advertised for sale during 2018, records kept by the Irish Farmers Journal indicate.
In total, 2,513 acres across 64 lots were advertised for sale in Fermanagh last year which equates to 0.94% of the county’s grassland and arable area as recorded in DAERA’s agricultural census.
Armagh had the lowest proportion of its agricultural area for sale at just 0.53%. Overall, 1,202 acres were on the market across 43 lots meaning Armagh also had the lowest average lot size in NI at 28 acres.
Across all of NI, there were 16,077 acres of grassland and arable ground in 456 lots advertised for sale last year in newspapers or online. The figures do not include hill ground or private sales.
The total acreage of publicly advertised land on offer in 2018 equates to 0.76% of NI’s 2.1m acres of grassland and arable ground, and the average lot size was 35.3 acres.
With several substantial farms advertised for sale in Derry during 2018, the county had the largest average lot size in NI at 45 acres.
In total, 2,472 acres was on offer across 55 lots, equating to 0.81% of its grassland and arable area.
The highest overall county acreage for sale was in Tyrone where 3,534 acres were offered up across 110 lots. However, this equates to only 0.72% of the county’s grassland and arable area.
Antrim had the second largest land area on the market in NI with 3,358 acres for sale in 99 lots. This left the average land parcel on offer at 34 acres and is 0.79% of the county’s grassland and arable area.
In Co Down, there were 85 lots advertised for sale, equating to 2,998 acres. Overall, 0.76% of Down’s grassland and arable area was publicly on the market and the average lot size was equal to the NI average of 35 acres.
A separate set of records for hill ground and rough grazing shows that 3,754 acres were advertised for sale across NI during 2018.
There were 40 lots of hill ground on the market last year, meaning the average lot size was 94 acres.
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