“Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff,” said Will Rogers. The famous actor and comedian was right, if the cost of real estate today is any indication. Housing prices have soared in the past year. According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index Reports, nationwide home prices rose 19.5% in September, compared to the same month in 2020. In Phoenix, the figure was 33.1%.
The housing demand frenzy is not over. Home prices in many regions and cities continue to jump. Historically low interest rates are one of the factors driving this. They have stayed low, despite inflation. Another factor is the migration of people inland from the expensive coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles, where housing prices can be more than double the national average. Places like Boise have grown considerably. People can relocate more easily because of the working from home trend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Land prices usually are measured by geographic area, which most often includes cities, states and counties. For Lawn Love’s recently released 2022’s Most Expensive Counties to Buy Residential Land, it considered home prices and property taxes. Its yardstick was “per acre” prices. The universe examined was the 300 largest counties as measured by population. The two sources used were the Federal Housing Finance Agency and SmartAsset.
Counties that Americans are leaving because of high real estate prices topped the list. In first place, San Francisco County had a score of 90.12. Next, Kings County had a score of 57.46. Most of the top 10 are near San Francisco and New York.
These are the 10 most expensive counties in American in which to buy residential land:
- San Francisco County, Calif. (90.12)
- Kings County, N.Y. (57.46)
- Hudson County, N.J. (33.99)
- Santa Clara County, Calif. (28.6)
- San Mateo County, Calif. (28.22)
- Queens County, N.Y. (27.3)
- Washington County, D.C. (25.12)
- Bronx County, N.Y. (18.93)
- Nassau County, N.Y. (18.51)
- Arlington County, Va. (18.11)
Click here to read about the most expensive cities in which to buy a home.
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