Land Prices Up 77% Since the Pandemic and Inventory Never Came Back, New Realtor.com® Report
Rhea-AI Summary
Realtor.com (NWS) reports land listings remain 23.6% below 2019 Q1 while median price per acre rose 76.6% through 2026 Q1, with a national median of $62,365 per acre and 426,986 listings. Regional shifts show the Northeast up ~101% and the West down year-over-year.
Positive
- Price per acre +76.6% since 2019 Q1
- 426,986 land listings in 2026 Q1 (median $62,365/acre)
- Raw land appreciation +86.5% since 2019 Q1
Negative
- Land inventory down 23.6% since 2019 Q1
- Western region -5.9% year-over-year price decline in 2026 Q1
- Build-ready listings up only 53.3% since 2019 Q1 (least appreciation)
News Market Reaction – NWS
In the Apr 21 session, NWS gained 1.47%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 16 | Rental affordability data | Neutral | +1.7% | Report showed renting cheaper than buying across all 50 major metros. |
| Apr 14 | Seller sentiment survey | Neutral | +0.0% | Survey highlighted optimistic but realistic sellers entering 2026 spring market. |
| Apr 09 | Market Clock launch | Neutral | -1.1% | Launch of Realtor.com Market Clock to classify metro market conditions. |
| Apr 08 | Luxury market analysis | Neutral | +2.1% | Report identified 13 markets dominated by seven-figure listings and luxury trends. |
| Apr 01 | March housing report | Neutral | -1.3% | Monthly housing data showed softer prices but rising listings and rate pressures. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Recent Realtor.com® housing data releases have generally coincided with modest single-day moves, with both positive and negative reactions, suggesting news sensitivity but no clear directional bias.
Over the last month, News Corp’s Realtor.com® unit has issued several U.S. housing data reports, including rental affordability on Apr 16, 2026 (+1.72% reaction), seller sentiment on Apr 14 (flat), and a new Market Clock tool on Apr 9 (‑1.05%). Additional pieces on luxury markets (Apr 8, +2.14%) and March housing trends (Apr 1, ‑1.26%) show that data-driven content can move the stock in either direction, providing context for today’s land-pricing report.
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
New data shows land listings remain
"The pandemic didn't only drain home inventory, it drained land inventory, and that loss is permanent," said Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com®. "When a builder develops a parcel, that land never returns to the market. The construction boom of 2020 to 2022 burned through years of supply, and the market is still paying for it. Prices sit
Key Findings
- Land listings on Realtor.com® have contracted
23.6% nationally since 2019 Q1, a decline that has not meaningfully reversed even as existing home inventory has rebounded. - Median prices per acre are up
76.6% since 2019 Q1, led by the Northeast (+101% ) and Midwest (+89% ), while Western markets have seen the softest appreciation. - Raw land has appreciated the most of any development category — up
86.5% since 2019 Q1 — while build-ready listings have risen the least, at53.3% . - Land prices declined
0.5% year over year in 2026 Q1, driven largely by a sharp -5.9% drop in the West as builder activity slows and housing inventory normalizes. Port St. Lucie, FL andFargo, ND -MN lead all metros in price appreciation since the pandemic, both exceeding310% price-per-acre growth.
Land Inventory Has Not Recovered — and Here's Why
The trajectory of land listings has closely mirrored that of home listings over the past several years until recently. Before the pandemic, prices for both were steadily rising. In early 2020, inventories plummeted while prices surged. The years 2021 and 2022 saw intense, sustained price growth and inventory reduction during the ultra-low interest rate environment.
The critical divergence arrived in 2024. While for-sale home inventory began posting
Regional Picture: Northeast Prices Surge; West Cools
Since the first quarter of 2019, land prices per acre have grown the most in the Northeast, followed closely by the Midwest and South. The West, which entered the pandemic with the highest land prices in the country, has seen the softest appreciation and is the only region posting meaningful year-over-year price declines.
Region | 2019 Q1 Price/Acre | 2026 Q1 Price/Acre | Change |
Midwest | +89.5 % | ||
Northeast | +101.5 % | ||
South | +84.9 % | ||
West | +32.2 % |
The Northeast's persistent price appreciation reflects structural constraints. Much of the region is already densely developed, and remaining undeveloped land is often subject to restrictive zoning, historic preservation laws, and environmental regulations. The pandemic-era construction boom consumed a significant share of what was available, and because that land was permanently transformed into housing, the supply base has contracted in ways that are difficult to reverse.
Western markets have taken a different path. The region experienced the steepest pullback in new residential construction activity, with single-family building permits declining faster than in any other region in 2025. Several Western states have also seen housing inventories return to or exceed pre-pandemic levels, reducing urgency among builders for land acquisition. Combined with the region's already-high starting price point, Western land prices have cooled accordingly — falling
Raw Land Has Appreciated the Most
Realtor.com® classifies land listings by development status: raw land (no development), partially developed lots (some clearing or utilities in place), and build-ready lots (marketed as immediately suitable to build on). Raw land has seen the steepest price gains since the pandemic, rising
Type | Listings for Sale | Median Price/Acre | Median Acres |
Build-Ready | 154,100 | 1.00 | |
Partially Developed | 189,038 | 1.34 | |
Raw Land | 86,637 | 2.25 |
Raw land's outperformance reflects both its lower starting price point and its nature as a more speculative asset class. Unlike build-ready lots, which are ultimately capped in value by what a completed home can sell for, raw land's pricing is driven more by expectations, geography, and demand for development potential. In the current environment of softening construction activity, raw land has also led the recent pullback, declining
Markets Most Impacted Since the Pandemic
Among metros with at least 500 land listings in first quarter of 2026, the
For price appreciation,
Land Prices Have Softened in the Past Year
Overall land prices per acre fell
Methodology
Listing data consist of for-sale land on Realtor.com® from June 2016 through March 2026. Year-over-year land price comparisons are made from the first quarter of 2026 against the first quarter of 2025, and all current statistics are as of the first quarter of 2026. Land listings are classified by development status using listing description keywords as well as price and size categorizations. Each listing is analyzed for words and phrases in the property description that indicate development status, with listings that lack clear signals falling back to a price-per-acre comparison against similar properties in the same county and acreage range, using percentile rank cutoffs to sort into categories. Metro-level data requires a minimum of 500 land listings to be included in rankings.
About Realtor.com®
Realtor.com® pioneered online real estate and has been at the forefront for over 25 years, connecting buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance, and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 site trusted by real estate professionals, Realtor.com® is a valued partner, delivering consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.
Media Contact: Mallory Micetich, press@realtor.com
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/land-prices-up-77-since-the-pandemic-and-inventory-never-came-back-new-realtorcom-report-302748019.html
SOURCE Realtor.com