worth reading Land Sales Are Booming

If you believe there's a link between the housing market and golf development in the United States, then good times may be just around the corner.

"While the existing home sales market is just beginning to show fluttering signs of life," writes Ann Brenhoff of Wallet Pop, "things are booming in the land sales sector."

The land rush is important because it serves as a sort of leading economic indicator for house sales. Home builders don't buy lots unless they believe they can sell them.

And today, as Brenhoff reports, all the big home builders are buying dirt-cheap lots in towns across the United States.

Two key points from the article:

First, the land rush began about a year ago, as land prices fell to levels that the builders couldn't pass on. "With land prices so low," Brenhoff writes, "competition ensued among the big builders, and now land prices are sizzling hot -- increasing monthly, even weekly in some places."

Second, the price increase is significant. Citing a report from Bloomberg, Brenhoff says that "in parts of Florida and Southern California, where prices were hit by the recessionary tsunami, some construction-ready lots are up in price more than 50% from their 2009 lows."

Finally, Brenhoff quotes a home builder who believes that the activity in land sales "suggests a confidence in the return of the market."

Here's a link to the article, called "Land Sales Leading Recovery in Housing Market, and Why You Should Care."