News Farmland
The land market in northern Groningen is at a virtual standstill.
Most land trade in the Netherlands takes place on the Veluwe, in the Bulb Region, and in North Limburg. There, relative land mobility is structurally higher than in other parts of the country. At the other end of the spectrum lies the Eastern Hogeland. In this area of Groningen, the land market is virtually at a standstill: less than 1% of the agricultural land changes hands annually.
These regional differences fit within a broader picture of a sluggish land market, report the Land Registry and Wageningen Social & Economic Research in a thematic supplement to the quarterly report on the land market. Agricultural land mobility remains low throughout the Netherlands. Less than 2% of agricultural land is traded annually, amounting to approximately 33.900 hectares in 2025. This percentage has remained stable for years and underscores how limited the supply on the land market is.
Least trade in arable farming areas
It is precisely at the regional level that the contrasts become visible. In large-scale arable farming areas in the Northern Netherlands and the polders – including the Oostelijk Hogeland – mobility is lowest. There, land often remains within existing structures and rarely comes onto the market. In more dynamic regions, such as parts of the Southern and Eastern Netherlands (including North Limburg), mobility is actually higher.
The causes of this low mobility are structural. Land often remains within families due to business succession and tax schemes, while owners frequently postpone selling to avoid taxation or to await a potential increase in value. At the same time, demand for land remains high, both from agriculture—for scaling up and extensification—and from other functions such as housing, nature, and infrastructure.
Land market locked down
The result is a locked-down land market: few transactions, high prices, and limited access to land. This not only hinders the development of agricultural businesses but also makes broader spatial objectives more difficult to realize. For agricultural businesses, this complicates scaling up or extensification. This leads to fragmented land use and higher operating costs.
Moreover, the Land Registry and Wageningen Social & Economic Research note that the issues surrounding high land prices and low land mobility are not unique to the Netherlands. In Flanders, too, there is limited access to land, high prices, and increasing competition from non-agricultural functions.
Gray areas
In the map above, several small agricultural areas have been excluded (grey areas), such as the Central Horticultural Area in Utrecht, Amstelland and Aalsmeer, and Rotterdam and its surroundings. These areas have a relatively small share of agricultural land and often experience spikes in mobility, which can distort the national picture.
John Ramaker
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