Antrim saw the biggest jump in average land price across NI counties last year. The figure of £14,300/ac represents a 16%, or £1,978/ac, increase on 2022 levels.

Antrim has moved up two spots in the NI county rankings to sit in third place. It ranks ninth across the island of Ireland, which is four positions higher than the year previous.

Our records show that 2,970ac of land were publicly advertised for sale in Antrim last year. This is 366ac more than 2022. The total area offered up during 2023 equates to 0.7% of the county’s overall arable and grassland area.

There were 90 parcels of land on the market in the Saffron County during 2023. This makes the average lot 29ac in size and is similar to 2022 when 87 lots averaging 30ac were offered.

Gear charge

There was a gear change in the land market in Antrim last year, with higher prices over £15,000/ac becoming more common. Our survey found 44% of sales made over £15,000 in 2023, which compares to just 32% the year before.

We found that 28% of sales in our Antrim survey were agreed at prices below £10,000/ac and the same proportion of transactions fell within the £10,001-15,000/ac bracket. Just 9% of sales surpassed £20,000/ac, although 35% fetched between £15,001-20,000/ac.

The top price recorded was £27,500/ac for a 40ac block of bare land in the south of the county. The lowest price was just under £7,000/ac for a large block of mixed quality land in west Antrim.

The highest prices are most common in areas where land is better quality, although strong money is occasionally paid in more marginal areas too. For example, £18,500/ac was recorded in our survey for a block of land in the Glens of Antrim.