With home prices reaching record highs, many people believe the real estate market is at its peak. According to the Fiscal Times, it’s a seller’s market and most buyers want turnkey properties with homes already built. Despite this trend, for the adventurous few looking to buy land and build their dream homes or country ranch residences, affordable options still exist.
The experts at FindTheHome used county public records to look at the sales of vacant lots since the beginning of 2014. Using this data, they averaged the lot size, sale price, and price per square foot of every vacant lot transaction in each county and found the counties with the cheapest land in each state.
Buying undeveloped land comes with many advantages. Empty land usually does not cost as much as an improved lot. Additionally, it provides maximum creative flexibility — stay within your jurisdiction’s zoning codes, and you can build whatever you want. Perhaps most importantly, though, is the fact that vacant lots can often be better long-term investments.
In Maryland, Somerset County was the cheapest county to buy vacant land. The average vacant lot size was 166,711 square feet, and the average sale amount was $45,059. The cheapest vacant lots in Virginia are found in Hanover County, where the average lot was 2,353,580 square feet and sold for $340,034. Don’t let these large numbers confuse you – vacant land buyers in Somerset County, MD paid an average $2.33 per square foot, while the vacant land in Hanover County was just $0.18 per square foot.
Take a look at the graphs below to see how home prices have been trending in Maryland and Virginia. Is it about time you started to think about investing in a vacant lot?
[graphiq id=”2emAalGyiH3″ title=”Median Home Sale Price in Maryland” width=”600″ height=”536″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/2emAalGyiH3″ link=”http://trends.findthehome.com/l/40/Maryland” link_text=”Median Home Sale Price in Maryland | FindTheHome”]
[graphiq id=”lsI5379ciyh” title=”Median Home Sale Price in Virginia” width=”600″ height=”536″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/lsI5379ciyh” link=”http://trends.findthehome.com/l/15/Virginia” link_text=”Median Home Sale Price in Virginia | FindTheHome”]