Land prices are highest and appreciate more rapidly in areas with dense housing, according to a study from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The study is accompanied by a spreadsheet that shows the prices per acre of land from 2012 to 2017 in 900 counties, more than 8,000 zip codes, and 11,000 census tracts.
Just looking at counties, it is clear that there are wide differentials across the country. An acre of residential land in Alameda County, California (which contains Oakland and Berkeley was estimated to be worth $3.0 million in 2017 and that value had grown 124 percent since 2012. Meanwhile, an acre in Harris County, Texas was worth just a quarter million in 2017 and had grown just 38 percent since 2012. Like most counties, both of these contain some rural land so the values of urban land in them may be higher.
Land in Multnomah County (Portland) was worth $1.3 million an acre in 2017, which had grown by 107 percent since 2012. Similarly, King County (Seattle but also a lot of suburban and rural land) was worth $1.3 million with an 86 percent increase since 2012. Continue reading
