I am starting to see some $900, $800, and $700 an acre stuff starting too pop up on the market. There were 500 acres in Miss at $700/acre in the Bham news just a few weeks ago. Not a lot but a whole lot more tracts than we had six months ago. Most of it is cutover timberland in West Alabama or in Mississippi. I figure those are folks looking for cash now (for whatever reason). Soterra is unloading a lot of timberland at $1500 to $1900 an acre. IF we are entering a protracted recession/depression we are going to see prices come down because too many people are losing their jobs and their financial investments to keep holding on to land. The Boomers also hold a whole lot of land (and most are JUST holding it) and as they increasingly approach retirement and/or death those assets are likely to be liquidated.
The 800 lb gorilla is Fed money policy. Are they going to let all those debts unwind and let all these millions of homeowners go underwater and take the auto industry and numerous other corps with them OR are they going to hyperinflate the economy so that home values rise above the current payoff??? IF they hyperinflate, land prices (and everything else including wages) are going up as the dollar's value declines. My gut reaction is to get bullish on land and say buy, buy, buy; but I can certainly see how the other could happen too (especially short term). At this point, the buy, sell, or hold position on any investments is pretty much just high stakes gambling.