Kildare has the highest land prices in Ireland by far following huge rise

Land prices in Kildare have jumped by almost a fifth in the space of a year as prices continue to soar in the county.

Kildare now has the highest land prices in the country by quite some distance, around 8 pc higher than any other county in Ireland at the moment. According to research provided by the Irish Farmer's Journal, the price of land in Kildare in 2017 was €14,020 per acre, much higher than second placed Louth which was €12,584.

The land prices in Kildare shot up by 18 pc from €11,925 per acre in 2016.

According to the figures released by the Irish Farmer's Journal,  3,818 acres were offered for sale in the county last year.

Numerous sales caught the eye last year, including €4.6m or €13,600/ac paid for 338 acres in Sallins to the 170 acres selling for circa 3.3m at Loughtown Stud well as the 205 acres at Clonaghlis selling for €3m or €14,600/acre.

The value of land increased in 19 counties throughout last year, while Leitrim has the lowest land value of €4,586 per acre.

"Just seven counties saw a drop in average values, with Waterford, Monaghan, Donegal and, surprisingly, Kilkenny seeing drops of over 10%," stated the report.

"The influence of commodity price volatility was plain to see in 2017. A bumper year for dairy farmers was counteracted by another poor year for grain. Beef and sheep farmers had a better year than in 2016 but were largely unable to compete with the dairy drive. It was just over 12 months ago when the milk price was on the floor and confidence was right there with it. What a difference a year makes and there is little doubt that land prices have significantly benefitted from this renewed dairy vigour."