2024-07-07 02:58:08
For this year, price growth is expected to continue, but it will not be more than 10%
Agricultural land prices in Bulgaria are rising more than housing prices, according to NSI data published on Friday.
The average value of arable land in our country last year reached BGN 1,607 per hectare and in practice
has doubled in the last 8 years
In 2022, 1 decare cost an average of BGN 1,428 and in just one year it has increased in price by 12.5%.
This is the biggest increase in agricultural land prices for the last 8 years. During this period, the increase has more than doubled – in 2016, an acre cost BGN 770, and the price increase in the following years was much smoother.
Growth of 12.5% outpaced that of housing. At the end of 2023, apartment prices on an annual basis rose by 10.1%. There are marked differences in how much an acre of farmland is worth in different regions. For example
in Dobruja, the average price is already BGN 2,500 per acre
and there the increase compared to 2022 is 22.4%.
Last year, a record expensive deal for arable land in Dobruja was registered in our country – BGN 5,000 per hectare. It is a first-category combined plot. In the regions of Pleven, Ruse and Veliko Tarnovo, the average price reached BGN 1,761.
The cheapest is the land in the South Central region – BGN 676 per hectare, but this is due to the fact that a large part of this region covers the Rhodopes. In principle, NSI counts agricultural land transactions that are registered by the Registration Agency, without VAT and without the value of the buildings built above.
The price of permanently grassed areas – natural and artificial meadows, meadows and pastures, in our country
is significantly lower
– an average of BGN 388 per hectare. They also rose in price compared to the previous year, but only by 5.1%.
While agricultural land for sale has increased in value, rental values in 2023 have decreased. For fields, it is an average of BGN 62 per hectare, and for meadows – an average of BGN 25. This includes the payments of the farmer to the owner of the areas, including those in kind.
As always, the rent is the highest in Dobruja – BGN 86 per hectare of arable land. But in 2022, it was BGN 93. Tenants in Southwestern Bulgaria pay only BGN 36 per hectare.
According to an analysis of the Bulgarian Association of Agricultural Land Owners, published recently, on the primary market of agricultural land in our country – where plots of land are sold and bought from farmers, already
there is very little supply
Most transactions are on the secondary market, where the areas are bought with the aim of consolidating and selling at a higher price. This is one of the prerequisites for the high price growth. And it comes mainly from speculative transactions, because at the same time the rent decreases.
Amid the war in Ukraine and disrupted supply chains, the association predicts that arable land prices will continue to rise. The forecast for this year is that the average increase will not be more than 10%.