Average agricultural land prices continued to rise in 2024 in the EU. In our country, the selling price for a hectare of agricultural land is 23 times lower than the average price recorded in the country that also held supremacy in 2023.
Malta was also in 2024 the country in the EU with the most expensive agricultural land, according to figures published in December by the National Institute of Statistics.
“In 2024, the average price of a hectare of arable land in the European Union registered significant variations. According to the data available for 22 EU member states in 2024, arable land prices fluctuated between a minimum of 4,825 euros/ha on average in Latvia and a maximum of 201,263 euros/ha on average in Malta, while in Romania the average price was 8,700 euros/ha”, it is stated in the INS press release. A year before, the lowest average price/ha in the EU was in Croatia – 4,491 euros/ha, followed in 2023 by Latvia (with 4,591 euros) and Slovakia (with 5,189 euros).
In 2024, the second lowest average price per hectare of agricultural land was recorded by Lithuania – 5,590 euros, followed by Slovakia – 5,823 euros/ha, Croatia – 5,965 euros, Hungary – 6,041 euros, France – 6,400 euros, Estonia – 7,033 euros, Finland – 8,670, Bulgaria – 8,679 and Romania – 8,700 euros, the following countries in the ranking can be seen in the table below. In Poland, for example, the average price jumped by 16,000 euros/ha, while the second highest price was recorded in the Netherlands – 96,608, but even this was less than half the price of agricultural land in Malta (201,263 euros/ha).
The prices for permanent pastures remained below those of agricultural land in 2024, ranging from a minimum of 1,877 euros/ha in Bulgaria to a maximum of 77,609 euros/ha in the Netherlands, while in Romania the average price was 6,257 euros/ha.
The figures presented by the INS are statistical data for the year 2024, provided by the EU member states and disseminated by Eurostat, the data being collected in accordance with a common European methodology that ensures the concept, comparability and uniformity of the results. “Average agricultural land prices refer to the value of one hectare of agricultural land during the reference period (a calendar year). It should be taken into account that the level of agricultural land prices depends on a number of criteria such as national factors (legislation), regional factors (climate and proximity to irrigation networks and systems), localized/specific productivity factors (soil quality, slope or drainage)”also specifies the INS.
How prices have evolved in Romania
And in our country, prices continued to rise, the average price for a hectare of arable land reaching 43,280 lei.
“The lowest average price was recorded in the North-East Region, 37,693 lei/ha, while the highest value was recorded in the Bucharest-Ilfov Region, respectively 62,477 lei/ha. In 2024, compared to the previous year, in Romania there was an increase of approximately 4% in the average price for arable land, the most significant increase being observed in the South-West Oltenia Region (+8.3%)”, INS also specifies.
In 2024, the average price of permanent pastures registered an increase of approximately 3.6% compared to the previous year, for the entire country, the most important increases being in the South-East Region (+7.3%) and South Muntenia Region (+7.3%)
