France has the largest agricultural area in Europe, with over 28 million hectares of farmland (arable and grassland), ahead of Spain (23 million hectares) and the UK and Germany (17 million hectares each).
27 million hectares are directly farmed by French farms. Almost 2 million hectares are used collectively by farmers (mountain pastures, marshes) or owned and developed by non-farming owners (pastures for leisure horses, for example).
While there are more than 400,000 farms in France, agricultural land is held by 4 million owners, i.e. an average of 10 different owners per farm.
The regulation of agricultural rents, the specific features of the farm tenancy statute, administrative control of the right to farm and control of the sale of land by the SAFER have had an undeniable effect on the price of agricultural land, which is one of the lowest in Europe.
However, land values have risen steadily over the last 30 years. The average value of agricultural land for sale doubled between 1991 and 2018, reaching €6,000/ha. Despite this increase, the price of farmland in France remains well below that of all its European neighbours (€60,000/ha in the Netherlands and €40,000/ha in Italy, for example).
Today, investment in agricultural land is once again very attractive, both for its rental yield (between 1 and 5%) and its potential for capital gains.
Buying agricultural land can also offer tax benefits (under a long-term rural lease) through reductions in property wealth tax, inheritance tax and gift tax.
Ma propriete fonciere (ma-propriete.fr/fr/fonciere) offers you a wide selection of agricultural land for sale in every region of France. You'll find farmland available for rent that you can farm yourself or rent to a farmer, as well as rented farmland that can earn you a rent each year.
You can also acquire land on Ma propriete fonciere (ma-propriete.fr/en/fonciere) by pooling risks through the acquisition of shares in Groupements Foncier Agricoles, Groupements Foncier Forestiers and Groupements Foncier Viticoles. These are special non-trading property companies that invest in different properties and offer these shares to a group of investors.
We also offer you a free service to put you in touch with agricultural property professionals to help you realise your project, whether you are buying or selling. All you have to do is complete a form setting out the specifics of your project. After analysing it, we'll pass it on to our advertisers who specialise in farmland transactions throughout France.
On ma-propriete-fonciere.fr you'll find recreational land for your horses or for the simple pleasure of enjoying nature and wide open spaces.
