Billed as the magazine of the American landowner, The Land Report says the largest 100 landowners in the nation acquired an additional 2 million acres during 2017, an area larger than Delaware. All told, the 100 largest private land holders own 40.2 million acres, equivalent to the land mass of the New England states with Vermont excluded, said the Washington Post.
Eric O’Keefe, the magazine’s editor, told the Post that the rapid rise in holdings by the largest U.S. landowners reflects “the growing appeal of land as an asset class.” A decade ago, the 100 largest owners held a combined 27 million acres. Productive land held its value for the most part during the recession, making it an attractive place for investors to diversify their holdings during the current stock market boom.
John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, is the largest private landowner, with 2.2 million acres, followed by Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, with 2 million. To make The Land Report’s top 100 list, investors need to own at least 145,000 acres. The median portfolio was 250,000 acres. The Post says a New York University economist calculated the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of the non-home real estate in the country.