by Calculated Risk on 5/21/2010 04:13:00 PM

From Buck Wargo at the Las Vegas Sun: Foreclosures on land pushing prices back to 2003 levels

Since the peak of the market in 2007’s fourth quarter of $939,400 per acre for land not on the Strip, prices have fallen 80.6 percent, [Applied Analysis Principal Brian] Gordon said.

“I think we will continue to see downward pressure on prices for a while,” Gordon said. “The demand for raw land is somewhat weak. There is excess inventory of office, industrial and residential; and development activity has come to a near standstill in many of those sectors, so that they don’t need raw land.”

And how about this ...

During the past year, many landowners have simply turned properties back to banks. ... “The reality is the landowners are finding themselves underwater and servicing their debt, and it has become a challenge,” Gordon said. “Many have opted to let the properties go back to the bank, not unlike what we have seen in the housing market.”

More strategic defaults.