According to the Irish Farmers Journal report on agricultural land prices for 2018, almost 25% of the land sold in 2018 was bought by business people.

In 2018, business people bought nearly 7,800 acres of farmland out of a total of 31,687 acres, representing 17% of the sale of individual land. The Irish Farmers Journal reports that business people - those with significant non-farm income - paid the most high land prices throughout Ireland with an average cost of 12,022 euros per acre.

Today's report shows that the average land price in Ireland last year was 9,072 euros per acre, and remained virtually unchanged from the 2017 figure of 9,088 euros per acre. Land supply in 2018 was 70,246 acres, which is 11% lower than the previous year, due to extreme weather events last year, low beef prices, and uncertainty about Brexit. The total amount of land transactions in Ireland was 305 million euros last year, compared with 313 million Euro in 2017.

Land prices in Dublin County reached nearly 22,000 euros per acre last year, while Litrim County recorded the lowest land price of 5,222 euros per acre. The publication notes that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit seems to be does not affect the agricultural land market in Northern Ireland: average prices rose in Armagh, Tyrone, Down and Antrim, while in Derry and Antrim they declined.