Louise Cullen

BBC NI agriculture and environment correspondent

Average farm land prices have surpassed £20,000 an acre in a Northern Ireland county for the first time.

The overall average for Northern Ireland has hit a record high of £14,736 an acre.

County Armagh topped the annual land price survey by the Irish Farmers' Journal (IFJ) with an average of £20,174.

The survey found top-quality farmland in the county had sold for as much as £28,000 an acre, with almost half of all sales achieving more than £20,000.

County Fermanagh was the only county to average less than £10,000 an acre at £8,867, a fall of 3.5% on 2023 prices.

Land prices are being watched keenly by farmers here, amid concerns that acreage alone will push many over the incoming new inheritance tax threshold of £1m.

The 2024 Northern Ireland average is an increase of almost £1,000 on the average price in 2023.

And that rise came despite the amount of land being publicly advertised for sale also increasing by 21%.

Three counties recorded a rise, 4.2% in Tyrone, 12.9% in Down and 14.6% in Armagh.

Meanwhile, Fermanagh, Antrim (-2.4%) and Londonderry (-1.4%) recorded small falls.

The IFJ survey covers purely the value of bare land, excluding any dwellings, farmyards or building sites.

But Peter McCann from the IFJ team said separate calculations showed the total price paid for such properties equated to £19,140 an acre in 2024, an increase of 5.6%.

He added that existing farm buildings are expected to rise in value in the coming years as "tight rules around planning restricts the construction of new sheds".

The survey found that farmers are the main purchasers in the Northern Ireland land market, with the parcels offered for sale being too small and too costly to attract companies trying to offset emissions.

Land prices in Northern Ireland are much higher than in the Republic of Ireland.

Prices there averaged €12,515 (£10,442) an acre, up 5% from €11,925 (£9,949) in 2023.