Survey on the Land Market - Survey on the Land Market - Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy

Survey on the Land Market

Description

What is

CREA-Research Centre for Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy (formerly INEA - National Institute of Agricultural Economics) has been carrying out the survey since 1947, with two complementary objectives:

• to define average farmland values at regional and national level;
• to recover qualitative information to understand how the land market evolves;
• Review of the methodology in 1992 and creation of a systematic dataset of land values - at territorial level (NUTS2 and NUTS3) - crop types.
• Questionnaires sent to a selected panel of experts (land prices at local level, level of sales activities, factors driven the evolution of the market).

Since the 50s the Centre has been carrying out an annual survey on the land market, whose main results are published in the Italian Agriculture Yearbook. This survey provides a detailed synthesis of the land market’s general trend through the elaboration of land average prices and regional indices. The values obtained have to be intended as indication of the ongoing evolution in the land market. In 1994, the survey system was reviewed, thus allowing to create a territorial databank of the land values starting from 1992. This survey is carried out by the Centre’s regional organizational units, coordinated for these activities by Andrea Povellato from the organizational unit of Veneto.

All contents published on these pages are subject to the Creative Commons license – Attribution – version 4.0. It is therefore allowed to reproduce, distribute, communicate data and analysis contained in these pages, provided that the source is quoted. Possible adaptations and further elaborations have to be specifically quoted.

Land values databank

Land values, by different type of crop, have been defined with the aim of achieving an estimate of the average land values and therefore their annual variations. These land values can vary in terms of price, due to the land characteristics (dried/irrigated, degree of fertility, susceptibility to land transformations). For ensuring a satisfactory differentiation, average prices of 11 types of crop have been detected in each of the 794 agrarian regions, redefined according to the 767 agrarian regions originally identified by ISTAT. These 11 types of crops represent the entire Utilised Agricultural Area (excluding the category “other permanent crops”, represented essentially by chestnuts). The regional average prices and the annual variation indices, associable by geographical area and type of crop, have been weighted on the basis of the crop breakdown referred to the period of the Agricultural Census of 1990, 2000 and 2010 at agrarian region level. A linear interpolation of surface data is carried out every year so as to avoid a gap between the Censuses conducted in alternate years. The post-2010 values are updated on the basis of the crop breakdown detected, at regional level, by the 2013 survey on structures and productions, waiting for an updating from ISTAT.

As far as prices are concerned, those ones that did not ensure the reference to a market undoubtedly ascribable to an agricultural use of lands, have not been taken into account. Prices have to be intended as related to the bare soil, excluding, where possible, land investments (rural buildings, plantations, etc.). The choice of prices for the 11 types of crops has been carried out through interviews to mediators and other sector’s operators. 

The processing of the information on land prices does allow to get a Land Values Databank that shows the average of the land values for 5 types of crop at a provincial level by altitude area. In order to better highlight the variability of the land value, also the (average) minimum and maximum values, detected in specific agrarian regions, have been reported. The last column shows the total area related to a specific area and a specific type of crop. The 5 types of crop derive from the aggregation of the following 11 types of crop detected during the survey:

 

A) ARABLE CROPS
1 - Irrigated lands (horticultural crops excluded)
2 - Dried lands (horticultural crops excluded)
5 - Horticultural crops, flowers and nurseries

B) MEADOWS AND GRASSLANDS
3 - Permanent grassland
4 - Grasslands

C) ORCHARDS AND CITRUSES
6 - Orchards
7 - Citruses

D) OLIVE TREES
8 - Olive trees

F) VINEYARDS
9 - DOC vineyard
10 - Table-wine vineyard
11 - Non-DOC vineyard and other

 

The databank is available since 1992. Annual updates are expected. CREA PB authorizes the partial or total use of the databank, provided that the user quotes the source (Creative Commons license – Attribution – Version 4.0). For any further information on the method applied, refer to the volume entitled "Land market in Italy", edited by Andrea Povellato.

The surveys have been carried out for pointing out the economic situation of the land market and they can only partially reflect the complex variety of situations and assessments that characterizes the transactions of land assets. The values contained in the databank do therefore represent general indications of the real market values for specific land assets and have to be considered just as support in the estimate, made by a professional technician, that does represent the only work able to justify the value to be attributed to a specific land asset.

The databank lists average values that not always take into account the complex situation of local markets. The survey allows also to identify the prices for some types of rural funds, expressed in terms of minimum and maximum values. Such values are included, as usual, in the Appendix of the Italian Agriculture Yearbook and they allow to further highlight the degree of variability of the land values. Tables are available in the pages dedicated to “Examples of land values and rental rates”.

It should be noted that the estimates are periodically updated; data reported in these files substitute therefore the historical series previously published.

Examples of land values and rental rates

The survey allows to identify, in addition to the average land values reported in the Land Values Databank, the prices for some types of rural funds, expressed in terms of minimum and maximum values that can be detected during the survey year in local markets. This further points out the degree of variability to which land values are subjected, also in the case of specific categories and territorial areas.

It should be noticed that such values refer to lands and/or companies that have showed a remarkable activity of sales/purchase or rental. It is therefore likely that marginal lands are less represented, since usually subjected to a lower activity of transactions. The prices indicated can refer to rural funds, that include land improvements.

These values are reported in the Appendix of the Italian Agriculture Yearbook, starting from the 1950s.

Contact

Andrea Povellato - Coordinatore