Washington bureaucrats recently announced that southern Nevada governments will be able to buy federal land at reduced prices. In some cases, it could be as low as $100 per acre. Buyers will be required to earmark the property for the construction of affordable housing.
“This is well below the comparable land sales rate, which at one point topped out at more than $2 million per acre,” the US Department of Housing and Urban Development said.
In a sense, it’s great news. Nevada’s growth remains strong. The state draws people from all over the country, especially from California.
But housing costs remain high. House prices are down from pandemic highs, but the median house price is still well above $400,000. The market has reacted somewhat as apartments are springing up all over the valley. Some 12,500 multi-family units are being built. However, more are needed, especially for the lowest incomes. Despite the infrastructure problems, freeing up more land makes sense.
One of the main causes of the high price of housing is the scarcity of developable land. More land from the federal government should help free up real estate that can be used to better match demand to supply. And a greater supply of housing is a key ingredient to stabilize prices in general.
But it’s important to remember that the scarcity of available land in the Las Vegas area is an artificial constraint. The federal government controls more than 80 percent of Nevada, including much of the vacant property in Clark County. It is a much higher percentage than in other states. In many eastern states, the amount is less than five percent.
In fact, there is no shortage of land here. The scarcity is because a lot of land is under Washington’s control, and only a small part is environmentally sensitive property, preserved and protected for public use, such as Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Efforts over the years by the state’s congressional delegation to unblock some of those properties for home construction and other development have had mixed results.
Several members of the Nevada delegation were quick to take credit for the new land release program.
“For too long affordable housing development on public lands in Nevada has been bogged down by an inefficient process, and I pushed through these vital improvements that will make it easier to build more homes for Nevada’s working families,” said Senator Catherine Cortez masto.
But the problem is not an inefficient process for land distribution. It’s that the federal government “owns” much of the vast open space that lies within Nevada’s borders in the first place.
