The strength of the US land market is driving increased interest from America's top investors
The strength of the US land market is driving increased interest from America’s top investors.
Holdings of land by investors has increased from an area the size of Maine and New Hampshire in 2007, to the size of most of New England (excluding Vermont) in 2017.
The revelation comes in the 2017 Land Report 100.
These rising numbers represent "the growing appeal of land as an asset class," Land Report Editor Eric O'Keefe told The Washington Post.
The data shows that while the US government owns the most land (640 million acres) on behalf of the nation but the top 100 private landowners owned 40.2 acres in 2017, up from 27 million acres a decade earlier.
The most popular land owned by investors was not for building homes though; productive land for crops and livestock is the popular choice.
Among the investors who have acquired large land assets are Subway co-founder Peter Buck who bought 1,000 square miles of Maine timberland; and Interactive Brokers Group chairman Thomas Peterffy whose 561,000 acres of timberland in Northern Florida cost him a cool $700 million.
Other major landowners include Ted Turner, John Malone and the Emmerson Family.
Holdings of land by investors has increased from an area the size of Maine and New Hampshire in 2007, to the size of most of New England (excluding Vermont) in 2017.
The revelation comes in the 2017 Land Report 100.
These rising numbers represent "the growing appeal of land as an asset class," Land Report Editor Eric O'Keefe told The Washington Post.
The data shows that while the US government owns the most land (640 million acres) on behalf of the nation but the top 100 private landowners owned 40.2 acres in 2017, up from 27 million acres a decade earlier.
The most popular land owned by investors was not for building homes though; productive land for crops and livestock is the popular choice.
Among the investors who have acquired large land assets are Subway co-founder Peter Buck who bought 1,000 square miles of Maine timberland; and Interactive Brokers Group chairman Thomas Peterffy whose 561,000 acres of timberland in Northern Florida cost him a cool $700 million.
Other major landowners include Ted Turner, John Malone and the Emmerson Family.
