Uruguay: The average land price increased by 6% and sales by more than US$800 million in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The land price increased 6% in Uruguay in 2021, with an average value per hectare (ha) of US$3,499, the Agricultural Statistics Office (DIEA) of the Ministry of Livestock reported Tuesday. There were 1,239 purchase and sale transactions of land with an area of nearly 232,000 hectares, an increase of 51% over the previous year, considering the area traded.

The total amount of transactions last year was over US$810 million. The comparison between the first and second half of the year shows an increase of 31% in the number of operations and 3% in the area sold. In the second half of 2021, the value per hectare was 12% higher, according to DIEA.

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BY DEPARTMENT AND SIZE

The departments with the largest traded area were Lavalleja, Rocha and Durazno, with just over 72 thousand hectares and US$211, representing 31% and 26% of the total for the year, respectively.

The departments of Soriano, Colonia and Canelones were the areas with the highest average prices, with average prices per hectare of US$6,993, US$6,109 and US$5,408, respectively. For the seventh consecutive year, the lowest average price was in the department of Artigas, at US$1,500/ha.

As usual, the commercialization of land by size shows that rural land between 10 and 100 hectares concentrates the most holdings (70% of the total) and 14% of the total area traded.

At the other end of the scale, 2% of transactions – those over 2,000 hectares in size – account for 28% of the area sold and a quarter of the amount traded. Analyzing transactions by sale price, 39% of transactions and 46% of acreage in 2021 are accounted for by values between US$2,501 and US$5,000 per hectare, according to the official report.

On the other hand, 24% of the area sold in 2021, or almost 56,000 hectares, was traded at the coneat scale 60 and 80, achieving an average price of US$2,561/ha.