Copen Grand Pricing
"The time is ripe to start looking; I haven't seen this market in 20 years," said Jaime Raskulinecz, a real estate investor from NJ, who wants to buy land in the hard-hit market of Cape Coral, FL. She found lots for sale on or near the copen grand pricing water at about a third to half below their peak prices of two years ago. On a larger scale, H. Ray Alcorn Jr., an investor in VA, is picking up commercial and residential parcels after two years on the sidelines. Mostly using cash, he has bought more than 100 acres throughout Virginia this year, much of it at reduced prices, and he has options to buy more."
Bloomberg.com
"...farmland is having its biggest revival in almost 30 years as demand for corn and soybeans from Asia and the ethanol industry drive commodity prices to record highs. From Iowa to South Dakota to Wyoming, gains in rural land prices have ranged from 78 percent to more than 200 percent, according to farmers and data from Farm Credit Services of America."
"TIAA-CREF, the largest U.S. manager of retirement funds, bought $340 million of farmland in seven states in December. George Washington University plans to earmark $100 million for agricultural investments during this year. "
"Farm values probably will rise at an annual rate of 6 percent to 10 percent in the next five years," said Murray Wise, the CEO of Westchester Group Inc., manager of $550 million of global farm tracts. In comparison, the median U.S. home is forecast to gain 1.2 percent through 2010 and stay below the 2006 peak of $221,900, the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington said.
"It's just crazy out there right now,'' said Mac Boyd, 65, a real estate broker in Arcola, IL, who has sold farms for more than three decades. "The land market has never been stronger."
