Land close in to Charlottesville can be quite expensive with demand for nice building sites being in very high demand. A good building lot up to five acres for a single family home with can be anywhere from $65,000 to $500,000 depending on location, amenities and the surrounding area. A building lot in Keswick Estates, an elegant country club north of Charlottesville where one would likely build a luxury home would be on the high end of that range while a very nice five acre wooded lot in Southern Albemarle County is currently offered for just $75,000.
With larger tracts of land, greater than 25 acres, you will also find a very wide range. Variable factors will be the potential use for the land including division rights, agricultural potential, access, aesthetics, (views, lakes, streams, rivers) and again, most importantly, location. With prices so high in Albemarle County, (Charlottesville is the county seat), many buyers who want acreage will find the surrounding counties of Orange, Madison, Greene, Nelson, Fluvanna and Louisa to offer more affordable land, often with exceptional views, privacy and fewer restrictions. For reference, the median price per acre in Albemarle County for raw land between 25 and 200 acres is $45,000 while the average price per acre in the surrounding counties is around $10,000.
Land is very difficult to assess on line. Until you can understand the property’s relative location in regards to surrounding properties, accessibility, potential homesites, proximity and availability of services you cannot really understand its value. I recently showed some land listings to clients from California who wished to create a family compound with five homes. They sent me a long list of properties they had picked from Zillow. Most had descriptions of private, recreational, wooded, great views, great hunting, stream on property and a a low per acre cost. They were very excited to see these properties but quickly realized that steep mountain land on a long right of way with 4WD access only did not seem so suitable in person.
If you are interested in purchasing land in this area I’d be happy to help. I’ve specialized in land, farms and estates brokerage in Virginia’s Piedmont for more than 40 years and would love to share my knowledge of the area with you.
