Land Review 2020…A Good Year…
A Good Year and Onward…
In 2020, The Land Group assisted our clients in the acquisition, disposition, or lease of over 13,000 acres. 9,000 acres were direct transition of ownership while the 4,000 acres of land leasing was completed for agricultural operators. Broad metrics for The Land Group in 2020 yielded over $67 Million in land sales through nearly 70 transactions.
Understanding the land market is our value to the industry and you as a current or future landowner. Fundamentally, we study land use and land values throughout the Chesapeake Bay Region. The intersection of these data points is where we do our work as land brokers. Our database of land sales and market knowledge together with our background in land use underpins our value as land advisors.
In 2020, we studied 174 land transactions in 10 counties. While much of this data is focused in Maryland and Delaware, our growth in 2020 will yield greater focus in Virginia and Pennsylvania in 20201. This data is provided free via our website at thelandgroup.us. We are working to improve the efficiency and value of this data to you via a mapping format in the coming year. Highlights are provided below from the data set for your quick review. Please recognized this analysis is done on a property by property basis by the advisors at The Land Group. We work to understand the basics of each land transaction. There is no automated analysis which produces this report to you as there is no way to accurately conduct such analysis across tracts with multiple land cover types and land use. Our approach is to look at the trade in the same utilitarian manner you as buyer view land sales. By breaking it down into farmland, forestland other land covers while removing the value of the improvements an accurate understanding can be formulated. This approach gives the true “land value” while increasing transparency and reducing subjective “adjustments” on a ratio basis. While we recognize this is not the manner appraisals are conducted, we believe it better serves our clients to understand land values and objectively interpret market activity.
Today, The Land Group represents the largest private aggregated ownerships in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Our clients own and manage over 50,000 acres. In the last year we have worked with several ownerships of 1000 to 3000 acres and all the way down to the landowner with 25 acre wood lot to assist them in maximizing both the use and value of their land. Through our consulting services to environmental engineering companies, conservation groups, renewable energy developers and institutional agricultural and timberland organizations our experience creates much bandwidth of knowledge to help all our clients at every level of landownership.
In the dynamic landscape of today with precision agriculture, land and resource conservation, tightening land use regulations, renewable energy, and the evolving use of timberland resources globally, much lies ahead for the modern landowner. Our principal goal is to provide context to you for these issues and make you better informed for managing your land based assets. I trust you will find the information we are sharing here beneficial. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you and explore how we may assist you in your land management goals in 2021 and onward.
Onward!
Ben
