Prices of farmland in Wallonia (Belgium) for the year 2021

Context

In Wallonia (Belgium), as elsewhere in Europe, agricultural land is a particularly strategic resource under constant pressure. In this context, the Walloon Agricultural Land Observatory [OFA] has the task of identifying exchanges of agricultural real estate assets to improve the knowledge of the Walloon agricultural land market and to provide key figures to guide the public farmland policy.

Methodology

Published since 2018, the OFA report is written by the Direction of rural land development from the Walloon ministry of Agriculture and Environment. This report is based upon the collaboration of the Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries and the Acquisition Committees.

The OFA presents data related to four types of land transactions: sales, donations in full ownership, like-kind exchanges and capital exchanges as well as farm leases.

Since sales are the only type of transaction with a monetary value (the sale price), each indicator related to sales is analysed in detail. As the built-up or unbuilt-up character and the legal land-use status of assets have a strong influence on the average price per hectare, the report specifically focuses on assets that do not include any built-up cadastral parcel and that are entirely located in the legally defined agricultural area

The 8 key data delivered by the 2021 report

34,945 €/ha, i.e. the average sale price per hectare in 2021 for farmland without any building on located entirely in agricultural zones.

+ 6.5%,  i.e. the average annual increase between 2017 and 2021 of the average sale price for farmlands without any building on located entirely in agricultural zones.

 +95.1%. In 2021, the ratio between the average price of arable land (44,041 €/ha) and the average price of permanent grassland (22,572 €/ha) nearly doubled. This concerned sales of farmlands without any building on and fully located in agricultural zones. This ratio, however, varied greatly depending on the agricultural region.

Factor 6. This is the coefficient of variation of the average sale price per hectare among provincial agricultural regions. For example, in 2021, this price varied from 10 892 €/ha for the Haute Ardenne (agricultural region exclusively located in the province of Liège) to 69 714 €/ha for the Sablo-limoneuse agricultural region of Walloon Brabant

Nearly 80% (in fact 78.3%), this is the share of the area of unbuilt farmland sold in 2021 by sellers who are physical persons and do not have the legal title of farmer.

50%, this is the share of unbuilt farmlands acquired in 2021 by purchasers related to farming (40% by individual farmers and 10% by legal persons related to agriculture).

Less than 10%, i.e., this the share of the area of unbuilt farmlands acquired in 2021 by corporate bodies without any farming activity.

5/10, this is the share of leases contracted in 2021 using the usual type of lease (renewable 4 times for a 9-year period). In 2021, the areas where usual, long-term and very long-term leases where contracted corresponded respectively to 44%, 37% and 18% of the whole area contracted that year.

The digital version of the 2022 report of the Walloon Agricultural Land Observatory (French version) can be downloaded here :