The COVID-19 pandemic years brought about a land frenzy as enterprising builders lured by way of traditionally low rates of interest snapped up huge tracts of land at a dizzying tempo. The shift reshaped the marketplace, sending uncooked land values surging sooner than each semideveloped and build-ready a lot.
In step with a first-ever research of land listings by way of the Realtor.com® financial analysis crew, total land costs in keeping with acre surged more or less 77% between early 2019 and March 2026—a length throughout which stock of for-sale parcels plunged 24%.
Within the first quarter of this yr, there have been 426,986 land listings on Realtor.com with an average charge in keeping with acre of $62,365.
On the other hand, because the inaugural find out about illustrates, no longer all land listings are created equivalent. They’re extensively labeled into 3 distinct tiers: uncooked a lot, which don’t have any construction on them in any respect; partially evolved parcels, which might characteristic some clearing or application set up; and build-ready a lot, which might be advertised for fast residential development.
A number of the 3 classes, untouched land has preferred essentially the most since 2019, with the median per-acre costs surging a staggering 86.5%, leaving build-ready a lot trailing in the back of with a 53.3% building up. Costs on semideveloped acreage adopted carefully in the back of uncooked land, emerging simply over 80% over the similar length.
Realtor.com® senior economist Joel Berner attributes the dramatic surge in undeveloped land values to 2 primary drivers.
“Uncooked land was once ready to realize extra temporarily than build-ready listings since the beginning charge level was once a lot decrease, and in addition as a result of build-ready listings have a herbal cap: the volume {that a} house constructed on them can also be bought for,” explains Berner. “Uncooked land can also be extra of a speculative funding, and when the marketplace for it were given scorching, its costs shot up.”
Latham Jenkins, an actual property agent at Reside Water Homes in Wyoming, notes that the steep appreciation of uncooked land in premier markets like Jackson Hollow and the Higher Yellowstone space has been a formidable but little-discussed undercurrent underneath headline-making belongings gross sales for a few years.
“Consumers on the higher finish of the marketplace aren’t buying a completed product,” Jenkins tells Realtor.com. “They’re buying a place inside of a panorama. The uncooked flooring is the asset. What will get constructed on it’s secondary. When that premise drives call for, uncooked land costs naturally decouple from the build-ready tier and start to run on their very own good judgment.”
Jenkins issues out that uncooked land’s greatest draw is that it gives the consumer most regulate.
“The consumer selects the web site, the architect, the builder, and the timeline,” he says. “On the property degree, that issues tremendously. You might be development a generational asset, no longer a spec house.”
However buying untouched land additionally comes with vital trade-offs, from excessive infrastructure funding prices to long allowing timelines and wearing prices throughout construction.
Jenkins says that during Teton County, WY, which is house to Jackson Hollow, environmental overview by myself can upload years to a construction undertaking.
“Water rights, get admission to easements, and application extensions aren’t trivial,” warns the agent. “Construct-ready a lot soak up the ones prices into the acquisition charge and be offering simple task and velocity.”
In the long run, Jenkins believes the selection between uncooked land and a build-ready parcel is a private one, dictated in large part by way of whether or not a purchaser seeks to form a legacy from the bottom up, or just construct a brand new house once imaginable. Each paths are totally legitimate.
“For consumers with a particular imaginative and prescient and long-time horizons, uncooked land wins,” he says. “For consumers who need to be within the flooring and development inside 18 months, build-ready is regularly the extra rational selection.”
Uncooked land costs start to proper
Up to now yr, the serious call for for land has softened because the marketplace returned to pre-pandemic norms. In just right information for builders, this shift has cooled costs around the board, with values of uncooked land a lot experiencing the largest correction.
General, land costs in keeping with acre have fallen by way of 0.5% from early 2025 to the start of 2026. Uncooked land listings have observed their charge in keeping with acre drop 2.4% yr over yr, whilst build-ready houses misplaced simply 1.1% in price. In the meantime, semideveloped a lot skilled a zero.8% charge building up.
“The principle wrongdoer for falling land costs is the slowdown in new residential development process, which completed 2025 underneath 2024 ranges as developers confronted larger price pressures and susceptible homebuyer call for,” explains Berner.
Western listings path in the back of
Just like housing, land costs range sharply by way of area, pushed by way of distinctive native elements. Since 2019, the associated fee in keeping with acre throughout all sorts of land a lot has grown essentially the most within the low-inventory, high-demand Northeast (101.4%), adopted carefully by way of the Midwest (89.5%) and South (84.9%). Western land listings have trailed some distance in the back of (32.1%).
Jenkins says that a number of elements underlie the West’s underperformance within the price-per-acre division, starting with the truth that the stock ceiling in native markets is already structurally low.
“In Teton County, not up to 3% of the land base is privately held. There isn’t a big raw-land pool to be had for developers to turn on, which limits the volume-driven charge discovery that occurs in additional open markets,” says the agent.
Worth appreciation is additional hindered by way of Western allowing and regulatory environments, which might be extra difficult and time-consuming than in different places within the U.S. Particularly, fireplace possibility exams and environmental evaluations inject excessive price and uncertainty.
“3rd, hard work and fabrics logistics in faraway Western geographies stay pricey,” provides the agent. “Developers rationally adopted the trail of least resistance eastward, the place a lot are higher in provide, entitlement is quicker, and margins are extra predictable.”
Moreover, Berner issues out that the West skilled the steepest pullback in new residential development process, with single-family development allowing declining sooner than in another area in 2025.
“As developers pulled again, so did their call for for land,” explains the Realtor.com economist. “On the identical time, a number of Western states have observed their housing inventories go back to or exceed pre-pandemic ranges, an indication that the pandemic-era provide crunch that when fueled pageant for land has in large part unwound.”
With extra houses to be had for consumers and not more urgency amongst developers to wreck flooring on new tasks, the land marketplace within the West has cooled.
However, the Northeast, which had the fewest land listings on the market ahead of the pandemic, noticed costs develop essentially the most since the already scarce provide of buildable land has shriveled much more.
During the last yr, the South has observed modest price-per-acre expansion of one.3%, adopted by way of the Northeast, at 0.9%, and the Midwest, at 0.2%. In the meantime, the median charge for a Western land lot plunged 5.9% in comparison to the start of 2025, pushed by way of subdued builder process and a housing marketplace that has returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic stock ranges in a couple of states, making the will for brand new land acquisition much less urgent.
