How to Find the Best Markets for Land Investing
- Craig Kaiser
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Most new land investors make the same mistake: they start with a property and then try to figure out if the market is any good. The smarter approach is the opposite- identify the right markets first, then go hunting for deals within them.
Land investing is fundamentally a local game. The same parcel in two different counties can have a wildly different value, buyer pool, and time-to-close, all because of the surrounding market conditions. This guide will walk you through exactly how to evaluate markets, what data points actually matter, and how to use LandApp to do your research efficiently.
Why Market Selection is Fundamental for Land Investing
Before diving into criteria, it's worth understanding why market selection matters so much for land investing specifically. With a rental property or a house flip, the asset itself generates income or value through improvements. With raw land, you're almost entirely dependent on external demand: buyers who want to build, farm, or develop. That demand is dictated by the market. Pick the wrong county and you can find a "great deal" that sits unsold for two years. Pick the right market and even mediocre properties move quickly.
The goal is to find markets where there are plenty of motivated sellers to source deals from and plenty of active buyers ready to purchase on the back end. Both sides of that equation need to exist.
How to Find the Best Markets for Land Investing
Finding the best markets for land investing involves evaluating population growth and proximity, economic diversity, price-per-acre trends, days on market, listing volume, property tax rates, property types, and state laws/regulations.
Population Growth & Proximity
Population growth is the single most reliable leading indicator of land demand. When people move to an area, they need places to live, work, and recreate- and that demand flows downstream into land values. Look for counties and metro areas showing consistent net population growth. The Sun Belt states (Texas, Florida, the Carolina's, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arizona) have led the nation in population growth for over two decades, and that trend shows no signs of reversing. These markets consistently generate strong buyer demand for both recreational and residential land.
Population growth isn't just about big cities, either. Many of the best land markets are suburban and rural counties within 60-90 minutes of a major metro. As remote work has matured, buyers increasingly seek land outside dense urban areas, and this has created strong demand in markets that were overlooked just a decade ago. The U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, state demography offices, and moving/migration tracking data all offer useful snapshots of where people are headed.
Job Growth & Economic Diversity
A growing population is most sustainable when it's driven by economic opportunity. Markets with expanding job bases attract residents who can actually afford to buy land, which means a healthier buyer pool and stronger prices.
Look for areas with:
Low unemployment rates (below the national average)
A diverse mix of industries (not dependent on a single employer)
Visible signs of business investment: new commercial construction, expanding industrial parks, announced company relocations, data center investment
A booming job market is also a signal that infrastructure is improving like roads, utilities, services- which directly impacts the value and the ability to sell surrounding land.
Price-Per-Acre Trends & Listing Prices
You need to know what land is actually selling for in a given market before you start sending offers. Median listing prices and, more importantly, sold prices give you a baseline for what the market will bear.
Look for markets where:
The gap between asking price and sold price is reasonable (not everyone is massively overpriced)
Price-per-acre has trended upward over the last 3–5 years
There's enough sales volume to draw meaningful conclusions (thin markets are harder to read)
This is where LandApp Pro becomes invaluable. Rather than guessing at market conditions, LandApp Pro gives you access to historical transaction data- actual recorded sale prices for land parcels across the country. You can see what properties like yours have sold for, when they sold, and how prices have shifted over time.
Days on Market (DOM)
How long does it take land to sell in this county? This is a proxy for buyer demand intensity. A market where land moves in 30–60 days is very different from one where listings sit for 18 months. A high DOM can indicate a saturated market, overpriced inventory, low buyer demand, or all three. Low DOM signals that buyers are active and motivated, which means faster flips, better exit optionality, and higher confidence when you're making acquisition offers.
Use LandApp to filter active listings and track how long properties have been sitting. Combine that with historical sold data from LandApp Pro to build a clear picture of market velocity.
Listing Volume
Next, evaluate listing volume. You want enough deal flow to work with, but not so much competition that finding motivated sellers becomes nearly impossible. A healthy market has a moderate amount of listed inventory- not a flood, not a trickle. If a county has 600 active land listings, you have plenty of comps to work with and a large pool of sellers to market to. If it has 8, it's probably not a market where a direct mail campaign makes economic sense. On the flip side, a county with 3,000 active listings may indicate oversupply issues that make it harder to sell on the back end.
Property Tax Rates
Often overlooked in the market-selection phase, property tax rates matter for two reasons. First, they affect your carrying costs while you hold a parcel. Second, they influence seller motivation- landowners paying meaningful taxes on vacant, non-income-producing land are often excellent candidates for direct mail campaigns. High tax burden creates motivation to sell. Research tax rates by county through state treasury or assessor websites. A county with higher taxes on vacant land can actually work in your favor when it comes to finding motivated sellers.
Property Types
Markets at the intersection of natural amenities and infrastructure growth are consistently strong performers for land investors. Land near something- a lake, a national forest, a major highway, a growing town- sells faster and for more money than land in the middle of nowhere with no clear use case. When evaluating a market, think about what draws buyers to the region.
If you’re evaluating a specific market for land investing, ask yourself:
Is there recreational demand (hunting, fishing, camping, off-road)?
Is there a nearby city driving residential and development demand?
Are roads, utilities, and services accessible or expanding into the area?
Vacant land in big cities usually falls into two buckets: prime, high-traffic parcels or rough lots in undesirable areas. The prime ones rarely come cheap, so getting a great deal is more luck than strategy. The rough ones might be affordable, but they’re often difficult to own or resell.
A vacant lot in a thriving, desirable neighborhood is a strong opportunity with real demand. In a rundown area, turning a profit is much harder and can bring more trouble than it’s worth.That’s the challenge in dense counties: most available deals tend to be in places buyers avoid. If the only viable use is building a home in a declining neighborhood, demand will be limited. Opportunities do exist in cities, but they’re generally fewer and harder to find than in rural areas.
The Best Types of Land to Invest In
Not all land is created equal. Understanding which land types perform best, and in which markets, is critical to building a profitable strategy. Infill lots, rural recreational land, timberland, farmland, undeveloped land, and waterfront land tend to be the best types of land to invest in.
Infill Lots and Residential Building Lots: These are vacant parcels in or near established neighborhoods and subdivisions, zoned for residential construction. They're among the most liquid land types because the buyer pool is large: individual builders, small developers, and families looking to build a custom home all compete for the same parcels.
Rural Recreational Land: Hunting land, fishing property, off-grid retreats- this category has exploded in demand as buyers increasingly seek outdoor escapes. The market for recreational land has deepened considerably since 2020, with a new wave of buyers who value access to nature and privacy. Timber value, water features, road access, and hunting quality (especially whitetail deer habitat in the Midwest and South) drive premiums. Properties with established food plots, blinds, or a cabin sell faster and for more.
Farmland and Agricultural Land: Farmland has historically outperformed most asset classes during inflationary periods (which is why many billionaires buy farmland), and demand continues to grow as food security concerns rise globally. Soil quality, water rights, drainage infrastructure, and current lease arrangements all significantly affect value. Farmland with an existing tenant in place is particularly attractive to investors.
Timberland: Timberland generates income through timber harvests while appreciating in underlying land value. Timberland investments serve as an asset and an inflation hedge, and it appeals to conservation-minded buyers as well as commercial timber operators. Timber inventory age and species mix, access to timber markets and mills, and reforestation history all affect value. A timber cruise (professional assessment) is worth commissioning on larger parcels.
Undeveloped Land Near Growth Corridors: One of the highest-upside land types is undeveloped semi-rural or rural land along growth corridors where new roads, utilities, or commercial development are expanding outward from an urban core. These parcels may be worth little today but can appreciate dramatically as infrastructure catches up.
Waterfront and Lakefront Land: Waterfront land commands premium prices and attracts motivated, well-qualified buyers. Whether it's lakefront recreational property or coastal land, the scarcity factor is real- they're not making more of it. If you’re investing in waterfront land, verify riparian rights, flood zone status, and any shoreline development restrictions. Access both to and on the water significantly affects value.
Building Your Target Market List
A practical starting point is to build a short list of 3–5 target markets and research each one before committing to a direct mail campaign or acquisition strategy. Start by identifying states with favorable growth trends- Texas, Florida, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arizona are consistently strong. Then drill down to specific counties within those states. Not every county in a growth state is a great land market; you need to verify conditions at the county level.
For each county on your list, run through the criteria above: population trajectory, job market health, median land prices, days on market, listing volume, and property tax rates. Build a simple scorecard and rank your candidates.
Start Browsing Active Land Listings
Market research is only the first step. Once you've identified your target markets, the next move is finding the right properties within them. LandApp's marketplace aggregates land listings from across the country, with powerful filtering by state, county, acreage, price, and land type. Whether you're looking for a recreational parcel in the Ozarks, a buildable lot outside of Nashville, or farmland in the Corn Belt, it's all in one place.
