Find out how the different Texas land market regions are faring from Dr. Charles Gilliland, from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center.
Texas Farm & Ranch, Land Sales Slowed Versus A Year Ago Outside Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin
By Troy Corman, t2Ranches.com
The effects of Covid-19 have dramatically affected the sales of small and large acreage tracts in rural areas surrounding Dallas – Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. While some buyers have no problem viewing farm and ranch properties, we’ve experienced a few that want to wait until the spread of the virus slows further. Sales that closed in April and early May could have been properties put under contract before the dangers of the COVID-19 virus were realized.
The following data was harvested from Multiple Listing Services in Houston, Dallas – Fort Worth, and Austin TX ninety miles from downtown Houston, Austin and Arlington. We’ve compared sales in the last 30 days versus a year ago.
Below are the number of sales of tracts and homes with ten to twenty acres that sold in the last 30 days versus last year.
- Austin – 51 last year / 25 this year
- Dallas /Fort Worth – 82 last year / 52 this year
- Houston – 54 last year / 41 this year
Below are tracts and homes with twenty to fifty acres that sold.
- Austin – 21 last year / 18 this year
- Dallas / Fort Worth – 64 last year / 25 this year
- Houston – 38 last year / 23 this year
Below are tracts and homes with fifty to one hundred acres that sold.
- Austin – 12 last year / 7 this year
- Dallas / Fort Worth – 30 last year / 16 this year
- Houston – 17 last year / 11 this year
Below are tracts and homes with one hundred to two hundred fifty acres that sold.
- Austin – 16 last year / 2 this year
- Dallas / Fort Worth – 15 last year / 6 this year
- Houston – 9 last year / 6 this year
Below are tracts and homes with two hundred fifty acres and more that sold.
- Austin – 7 last year / 3 this year
- Dallas / Fort Worth – 4 last year / 0 this year
- Houston – 0 last year / 1 this year
With Covid-19 cases appearing to be on the downslide in Texas, and with more Texas businesses opening up, hopefully, we’ve seen the slowest period for real estate sales in the near term. Reports indicate that buyer traffic is increasing and low mortgage rates are flirting with going sub 3% on the 15-year mortgage loan.
Despite tighter lending on home purchases and refinances, farm and ranch loans are not under the same regulations and have not appeared to have been as negatively impacted.
If you need any help with land, or farm and ranch sales outside of Houston, Austin or Dallas – Fort Worth, call or text Troy at 832-759-1523 or 214-690-9682.
What Does 500+ Acres of Rural Land Cost You Near Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth?
By Troy Corman, founder of t2ranches.com
Large tracts of land for sale in Texas near the major metropolitan areas are becoming more harder to come by – particularly in the Texas triangle, the area between San Antonio, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. We took a look at land sales of 500 acres or more recorded by the North Texas Real Estate Information System (NTREIS) and the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) multiple listing services. Keep in mind, there are some sales and sale prices that weren’t shared publicly, but we should have enough data to give you a general idea of land values in Texas.
We limited the sales to land that didn’t have residential homes, since the size and quality of a home can vary quite a bit when it comes to farm and ranch properties in Texas.
In Houston, most of the sales of 500 acres or more occurred north of Houston, around Huntsville, with Walker county accounting for most of the closed sales. Since this area is heavily treed, additional income is often achieved due to the timber industry. As a result of the additional income potential, land for sale surrounding the Houston area year-to-date in 2019, averaged $4,293 per acre, with a median of $3,142 per acre – meaning half the tracts sold for more than $3,142 per acre, and half sold for less.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, most of the sales of 500 acres or more occurred west and northwest of Fort Worth. Since this land didn’t have the potential for more income through the timber industry, the price per acre decreased. Another reason may be that once you get a pretty good ways west of Fort Worth, there aren’t any major metro areas nearby. Land sales surrounding Dallas – Fort Worth averaged $2,469 per acre, with a median price of $2,411 per acre. However, twenty one sales of 500 acres or more were recorded in D-FW versus fourteen in the Houston area.
Farm and ranch land that is developed into residential or commercial real estate development sites can quickly approach the $20,000 per acre price and rise substantially from there. If you have land with a highest and best use for real estate development, you can see that we also market Texas land for commercial and residential real estate development at www.t2cre.com.
Below is Texas land for sale in Montgomery county, an area north of Houston with interesting topography and lots of trees.
