Realtor.com® today released its first-ever analysis of land listings for sale in the United States, offering an unprecedented look at one of the most fundamental — and least examined — inputs to housing supply. The report, which draws on land listing data from June 2016 through March 2026, finds that the pandemic-era buying frenzy permanently transformed the land market: inventory has contracted 23.6% since the first quarter of 2019 and has yet to recover, while prices per acre have surged 76.6% over the same period. In the first quarter of 2026, there were 426,986 land listings for sale on Realtor.com with a median price per acre of $62,365.
“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 77% above pre-pandemic levels, inventory has gone nowhere, and until the development pipeline catches up, neither of those things will change and future new construction could be more costly.”
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, at 53.3%.
- 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 and Fargo, ND-MN lead all metros in price appreciation since the pandemic, both exceeding 310% price-per-acre growth.
Land Inventory Has Not Recovered — and Here’s Why…