Land Sales Continue to Nose Dive in 2008
Source: MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE News Service
Publication date: October 9, 2008
For months now, land owners, developers, and single-family and multifamily builders have talked about the severe drop-off in land sales. New numbers from Real Capital Analytics back those assertions-the New York-based real estate research firm says that sales have fallen off drastically, nearly 75 percent to date this year.
From January through August of 2008, land sales totaled $7.1 billion. During the same period last year, $27.2 billion in land was sold. In the first three quarters of 2006, that number was $16.4 billion.
“It’s not just sales, but it’s pricing as well,” says Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting, a real estate research and consulting firm based in Deerfield Beach, Fla. “The parcels that are being sold are incredibly below what they were a few years ago. We’re talking 20 [cents] to 40 cents on the dollar.”
| DIRT DIVE: Annual land sales have plummeted in 2008, according to New York-based research firm Real Capital Analytics. Through August, sales were off nearly 75 percent, versus the same period in 2007. | |
| Year | Dollar Volume |
| 2005 | $20.94 billion |
| 2006 | $25.95 billion |
| 2007 | $37.07 billion |
| 2008 (to date) | $7.17 billion |
