The price of agricultural land increased by an average of 3% in 2014, to reach €5,910/hectare, according to recent figures published by SAFER, the French rural land agency.

There are of course substantial variations in the value of agricultural land in France, depending on use and location.

Other than land for viticultural use, the most expensive land is that for arable use, which averaged €6,810/ha last year, whilst for grassland it was €4,390/ha.

At a regional level, the most expensive region for farmland in France is in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, with an average price of €13,400/ha. Lowest prices are in Franche-Comté, where the average price is €2,730/ha.

Nevertheless, within regions there are substantial differences in prices between departments and even within departments. Accordingly, as usual, buyers need to be very careful about reading too much into average figures.

Thus, whilst the average price for land in Languedoc Roussillon is €5,600/ha, prices in parts of the Pyrénées Orientales department reach over €12,000/ha, and land can be acquired for less than €4,000/ha in the department of Lozere.

Similarly, in Aquitaine in some parts of the departments of Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Lot-et Garonne prices of agricultural land are over €10,000 per hectare, whilst most of the land in the departments of Dordogne and the Gironde can be purchased for less than €4,000/ha.

The following table shows the average prices per region over the past three years. As can be seen, prices rose in some regions in 2014 in comparison with 2013, but fell in others.

The largest increase was in the Ile-de-France, where prices rose by an average of 15%, whilst prices in Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur (PACA) fell by an average of 7%.

There was also significant variation in price movements within most departments, not shown here.

Over the longer-term since 2007, prices in many regions of France have remained relatively stable or have actually fallen in real terms. The falls have occurred notably in PACA, Burgundy and Limousin, whilst Nord Pas-de-Calais, Alsace, Normandy, Aquitaine and Ile-de-France have seen the highest growth.

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