Land prices in France in 2023

It's essential to know the price of land in your region before embarking on a project to buy a farm.

Here are the official statistics on the price of agricultural land in France in 2023.

After a year of decline in 2021 (-2.3% to €5,940/ha), and an increase of 3.2% in 2022, the sale price of agricultural land rose in 2023 by 1.5% to €6,200/ha.

With inflation in 2023 at 4.9%, the increase in land values is once again insufficient to protect the value of landowners' assets.

We have analysed for you the figures provided by the SAFER (L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - June 2024) and supplemented in part by Le barème indicatif de la valeur vénale moyenne des terres agricoles en 2023 published on 29 July 2024 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

A market in slight decline

The number of transactions recorded by SAFER for land and meadow sales in 2023 was 104,560 transactions, down 1.5% on 2022, but remaining above 100,000 sales for the 3rd year running.

The area sold, on the other hand, fell quite sharply by 5.3% to 454,900 hectares.

While the market in 2022 and 2021 was strong in terms of the number of transactions, this was partly a recovery from the health crisis of 2020.

A comparison with 2019, on the other hand, still shows significant growth:

• 104,560 transactions, up 10.7% on 2019
• 454,900 hectares, up 7.3% on 2019
• 7.496 billion euros or +38.8% compared with 2019

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

It should be noted that these figures include transactions involving both built and unbuilt property, as well as vacant and rented land. A more detailed analysis is therefore interesting.

The open land market

While the number of transactions for undeveloped properties is rising, it is falling for undeveloped properties and rising sharply for developed properties.
On the other hand, the surface area sold is up for undeveloped properties, as is the value sold.

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

The sale price of undeveloped open land has therefore risen to €6,200 per hectare.

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

The difference with the total prices in the previous table is explained by the calculation methodology, which excludes transactions with the lowest and highest prices.

The market for leased land

There has been a sharp fall in transactions involving leased property, whether in terms of the number of transactions, the area sold or the total value, and this fall is much more marked in the case of built-up property.

It should be noted in particular that the market for leased property is much larger than the market for unleased land in terms of surface area sold (186,300 hectares of leased land sold compared with 142,500 hectares of unleased land sold.

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

The average sale price of leased land was also up by 1.4%. It should also be noted that the discount to unleased land remained stable at 17%.

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

Comme pour les terres libres, l’écart avec les prix totaux du tableau précédent s’explique par la méthodologie de calcul qui écarte les transactions aux prix les plus faibles et les plus élevés

Who are the land buyers?

While sales to farmers (individuals) fell (-3.7% in number of sales and -3.6% in surface area), this was also the case for sales to agricultural companies (-8.9% in number and -5.5% in surface area).

Sales to non-farmers increased in number (+7.8%) but decreased in surface area (-9.7%).

En terme de surface vendues, la répartition entre type d’acquéreur est la suivante :

• Personnes physiques agricoles                       51,8%
• Sociétés d’exploitations agricole                       7,9%
• Land holding companies                                   8,8%
• Other buyers                                                   31,5%
  • Of which non-farming individuals                  22,3%
  • Of which non-agricultural legal entities           6,9%

It should also be noted that cumulative inflation from 2018 to the end of 2022 is 10.6%. The average increase in the sale price of agricultural land (2.3%) is therefore insufficient to protect the value of the estate.

The market for the sale of company shares is growing

Sales of land to companies have been rising sharply for some time. Sales of shares in these companies have also been on the increase for several years.

SAFER obtained the introduction of controls on the sale of shares in agricultural companies (Loi Sempastous) to prevent these transactions from being used to circumvent the Structures Control regulations and its right of pre-emption.

After an exceptional year in 2022, the number of corporate transactions fell sharply, but remains higher than in previous years.

However, the surface area involved is up on estimates for previous years.

It should be noted that these sales of company shares are to the benefit of :

• Members of the same family                                                           63%
• Non-family partners                                                                          6%
• Third parties who are neither family members nor partners           31%

Variations according to land use

Changes in the price of vacant land are also analysed according to the type of land, distinguishing between land used for arable farming and land used for cattle rearing (milk or beef). 

Source : SAFER - L'analyse des marchés fonciers ruraux - juin 2024

In conclusion

The market for the sale of agricultural land therefore remains buoyant overall, with prices on the rise even if volumes are down slightly.

Prices vary by department and region, of course. We recommend that you consult our articles on prices by region and department.