Vacant land inventory is showing signs of last year’s sales surge. During the first three months of this year, active inventory was down almost 19%, while sales were up 74%. There were 541 sales during the first quarter. 

Unlike the residential sector, there’s no inventory crunch for vacant land listings. There were 1,026 new listings during the first quarter, compared to 863 last year. And the active inventory is just shy of 2,500 listings. This includes everything from residential lots to commercial and potential commercial use land.  

Sales in the $30,000 and below range dominate the new listings, but listings in the $500,000 and up range had the largest growth rate. There were 42 new listings in that top-end sector compared to 23 last year, an increase of 82.6%. Twenty-nine of those listings are for $1 million or more. The top listing is on Island Road in Bristol, Tenn., for $9,750,000. 

So far this year, vacant land in the $30,000 and below price range has been most active with almost 200 sales. That’s 25% more than during the first three months of last year. The price range with the largest growth rate is $500,000 and above. It’s up 600%. There were seven of those sales during the first quarter. During the same period last year, there was one.