The total area of farmland offered up for sale in NI reached a five-year high during 2024, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Our records show that 13,711 acres came on the market this year, representing an increase of 21%, or 2,341 acres, when compared to 2023 levels.

This year’s figure is the highest annual total seen since 2018, when 16,078 acres were advertised for sale in NI.

Overall, there were 487 parcels of land publicly offered up in 2024, which makes the average lot 28 acres in size. Last year, 417 lots averaging 27 acres in size were on the market.

Local auctioneers suggest the strong demand for farmland has led to more parcels being offered up for sale, although the increased supply has not impacted selling prices so far.

Armagh

Armagh saw the biggest change in land supply, with the 1,513 acres for sale this year, equating to almost double the area that was on the market in 2023. Fermanagh saw a 70% rise in land supply, with 1,805 acres advertised for sale in 2024, and the 3,433 acres advertised in Down were up 48% year-on-year. There was an 8% rise in the land area for sale in Derry, with the total standing at 1,829 acres.

Antrim saw a 3% decline in its sale area, with 2,871 acres offered up. Similarly, there were 2,260 acres for sale in Tyrone, which is down 11% year on year.

While the total area advertised for sale in NI rose sharply this year, it still equates to just 0.65% of the region’s overall grassland and arable area.

At that rate, a given area of land will only be on the market publicly once every 154 years.

At individual county level, the proportion of agricultural land offered up for sale this year ranges from 0.47% in Tyrone to 0.86% in Down.

Land quality

The outlined figures only cover land that was advertised for sale in newspapers and online, so private transactions are not included.

Likewise, only land that can be described as arable grade, suitable for silage or good-quality grazing is included in our main dataset.

A separate set of records for hill ground and rough grazing shows that 2,465 acres were advertised for sale in NI during 2024, which is a 14% increase on the year previous.

There were 31 separate lots of hill land publicly up for sale over the year, which makes the average property 79.5 acres in size.

It compares to 19 parcels of hill land averaging 114 acres in size during 2023.