Pandemic ‘permanently transformed’ land market, new study says
Lot inventory has fallen nearly 24% since 2019, just before the Covid-era construction boom began, Realtor.com found — “and the market is still paying for it.”
Key points:
- Land inventory will likely never recover from the pandemic’s surge in housing demand and construction, according to a Realtor.com report.
- Since early 2019, the median price per acre has risen by more than 76% nationally, and it has more than doubled in the Northeast.
- NAHB surveys suggest the situation may be improving, but nearly two-thirds of builders say lot supply remains “low” or “very low.”
The real estate market has seen significant changes since the pandemic era, with reverberations — including the low mortgage rate lock-in effect and outsized home price appreciation — still felt today.
But one lesser-known impact of the Covid homebuying wave? A shortage of buildable lots.
"The pandemic didn't only drain home inventory, it drained land inventory, and that loss is permanent," Realtor.com Senior Economist Joel Berner said in a new report.
Fewer lots, higher prices
In its first-ever analysis of land listings, Realtor.com found that inventory has declined by 23.6% since the first quarter of 2019, while the price per acre has risen by 76.6%.
Of the roughly 427,000 land listings available on Realtor.com, the median price for per acre was $62,365 in the Q1 of 2026.
Raw land — lots with no development or utilities — appreciated the most, climbing nearly 87% since 2019, while building-ready lot prices rose the least at 53.3%. That differential is due in part to the lower starting price of raw land and its more speculative nature, which is influenced by factors like geography and demand for development.
Construction boom 'burned through years of supply'
Until fairly recently, the movement of land listings mirrored that of home listings, but in 2024, they diverged: Housing inventory picked up as sellers returned to the market, while land inventory remained stuck.
The reason? Because as demand for homes surged in 2020, many land listings purchased during the first two years of the decade were converted to new homes, chipping away at the finite amount of land for sale in the U.S. — a situation that "permanently transformed the land market," the report said.
Overall housing supply may be slowly recovering from the pandemic buying frenzy, but land that's ready for home development has yet to catch up — which could mean higher new home prices down the road, according to Berner.
"When a builder develops a parcel, that land never returns to the market," Berner said.
The construction boom of 2020 to 2022 burned through years of supply, and the market is still paying for it."
Land prices have more than doubled in the Northeast
Much like the homebuying market, land costs vary widely across regions. The Northeast — which was already densely developed pre-pandemic — has seen the most significant price appreciation in land listings since 2019. Land prices in that region also tend to be more heavily impacted by zoning rules, historic preservation laws and environmental regulations.
Prices in the Midwest and South increased 89.5% and 84.9% respectively, while appreciation was up just 32.2% in the West.
Single-family building permits dropped more quickly in the West than in any other region in 2025, and several states in the region have seen housing inventory recover from pre-pandemic levels — leading to lower demand among builders for land. During the first quarter of 2026, land prices actually fell 5.9% year over year.
Builders report small improvements
While buildable lot shortages persist, surveys by the National Association of Home Builders suggest the situation is improving.
In a May 2025 NAHB survey, 64% of single-family builder respondents said the supply of lots was either low or very low — down slightly from 2023 and 2024, when 67% of builders reported a deficit, and a significant improvement over 2021, when 76% reported some type of shortage.
That easing appears to be showing up in lot prices, which have been essentially flat between 2025 and 2026, according to Realtor.com.