What Is The Bull Case for Land? \ stacker news ~econ

pull down to refresh

Land seems like a rip-off right now. Most of it is owned by governments (89% in Canada, 28% in the US), which I assume they can dump at any time if it becomes more valuable (so it's not that scarce), it generally comes with property taxes, some kind of insurance, and if you want to build anything on the land, you've got permitting costs and significant delays too. And then most people are looking at 1-5% of losses right off the bat in the form of legal/realtor fees.

These are just generalizations, and rules do vary, but I'm having a hard time seeing why anyone would want to buy land as an investment today. Especially with so many other asset classes that have been performing better over the last couple decades - asset classes that either weren't available or weren't as accessible 50 years ago.

What is your best argument for why land is an undervalued asset today?

view all related items

62 sats \ 1 reply \ @JesseJames 4h

I don't see this as an investment but rather as an opportunity to be more independent and more self sufficient. One can live off the land if done right in the right location... YMMV

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 4h

Good point, if "living off the land" becomes a theme that really takes off I could see land prices going up.

Any idea what kinds of catalysts might reverse the trend of urbanization we're seeing across the world?

62 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 4h

I know Mark Moss argues for real estate being undervalued, but I don't recall exactly what his argument is: something about how it usually trends with global liquidity.

I agree with you. There's a lot of artificial scarcity in this market, which makes me uncomfortable. Governments will absolutely dump their land holdings onto the market if they get desperate for revenue. In America, the states also own lots of land, btw.

There are probably better arguments to be made about particular areas or properties being undervalued than the entire asset class.

29 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 4h

Yeah, I agree there are likely pockets of land in certain areas that might make for compelling investments... but I don't have a good idea of where those pockets might be or what they might be used for. Any ideas?

To add to all of what I said above, people are also spending way more time at home and on their screens than ever before, so aside from a primary residence (which I don't consider to be an investment), it's really hard for me to see how land retains its value.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 4h

Oh yeah, we agree on that too. With the collapse of commercial real estate, I don't see how real estate prices remain high either.

I don't know how to identify investment real estate. Lots of people get paid to do that and I have no reason to think I have some special insight that they haven't already acted on.

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @Aardvark 3h

In a world where bitcoin didn't exist, I'd say it's historically been one of the safest investments you can make, and would recommend it.

In a world where bitcoin exists i can't think of a single reason I'd buy land as an investment. It's just inferior in every single way.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nikotsla 1h

This.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @IamSINGLE 55m

Imo, Land is an overvalued asset not undervalued. There's so much land everywhere but people by saturating specific land areas are inflating the prices of that land.

In my country, we can still get 1 hectare of agriculture land, to my knowledge, in $10k. Isn't it cheap considering we can easily live off the land and it would be worth much more in 10 or 20 years?

So, I mean, I don't oppose there are many better returns providing assets now, but land is something that's a requirement and the more the better.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @dough 2h

An argument I hear is 'nobody can print more land'. However scarcity alone doesn't make it a good investment.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Solomonsatoshi 2h

It depends what your objective.s are. I like land as every site is different. If you appreciate land for its unique qualities it offers multiple uses depending on the site. However in my opinion it is arguably overpriced as it has been used as a SoV to avoid fiat debasement. If a Bitcoin Standard ever takes hold land might drop in relative value. Only buy land if you want to use it...too many speculators sitting on land doing nothing with it.

7 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 2h

Only buy land if you want to use it...too many speculators sitting on land doing nothing with it.

i agree with this

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @gmd 4h

If trends continue and our population continues to drop off a cliff you wouldn't think prices would drop long term...

33 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 4h

why not? wouldn't that put even more downward pressure on land prices?

8 sats \ 0 replies \ @gmd 4h

brain fart lol... i meant to say you would think