News Farmland
Less than half of the land bought by farmers
Farmers remain an important player in the agricultural land market, but their importance shows a decreasing trend. This is evident from the theme supplement to the quarterly report on the agricultural land market that Kadaster published today. The Kadaster also shows that the average land price fell in the second quarter of 2023.
Kadaster and Wageningen Economic Research have examined which parties were active buyers of agricultural land in the period 2012-2022. In this period, between 30.000 and 38.000 hectares were traded annually and on average farmers are the largest group of buyers. The share of agricultural entrepreneurs in the land trade is declining. In the years 2012-2015, farmers accounted for 59% of land mobility, and that fell to 2019% in 2022-49. In absolute numbers, this is a decrease from 19.900 hectares to 15.900 hectares.
The growing group of buyers from non-farmers is a colorful group. About a quarter has been purchased by investors, conservation organisations, governments and other investors. Land as an investment is the largest group at 9%, according to the researchers. The other quarter was purchased by buyers who cannot be assigned to a specific segment. By far the largest part, namely 81%, concerns private buyers. This concerns 45.600 private individuals, the vast majority of whom bought less than 10 hectares. The remaining 19% in the unknown segment consists of various legal entities.
Land prices down in second quarter
The national average land price in the second quarter of 2023 will be €73.600 per hectare. That is a decrease of 7,3% compared to a quarter earlier. Arable land showed the largest decrease, namely 8%, which brings it to €84.500 per hectare for the second quarter of this year. Grassland fell by 1,2% to €68.000 per hectare. In Flevoland, the average land price is by far the highest in the Netherlands with an average price of €161.900 per hectare. We find the lowest average land price in Friesland with €60.700 per hectare.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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