Market impacts of new land market regulations in Eastern EU Member States

The objective of this paper is to review new restrictions imposed on land sales in selected Eastern EU Member States and to investigate the potential impacts of these restrictions on land prices, transaction distortions, and access to land. The main common element of the new regulations across the four studied countries (Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) is the introduction of the pre-emption rights to selected groups of potential buyers which tend to favor domestic and local farmers relative to external competition. However, the coverage of pre-emption rights differs strongly across countries. The regulation adopted in Slovakia is the most restrictive, followed by Latvia and Poland; Romania has adopted the least restrictive measures. We expect market transactions as well as land prices to decline due to reduced competition, causing foregone income to non-farming landowners.