Today’s challenging capital environment has created an unexpected opportunity: a surge in land offerings for ground-up hotel and resort development. While sellers may face financial pressures that drive these offerings, buyers confront elevated construction and capital costs that fundamentally reshape land valuations.

This dynamic often stems from internal organizational changes that forces land sales yet creates a paradox. With both cost of capital and construction expenses expected to remain elevated, land values have declined significantly from previous peaks.

This doesn’t mean land lacks value or buyers. Entrepreneurial investors remain active, guided by the timeless principle: You don’t make money when you sell land—you make it when you buy it.

Currently, our team requires land offerings to meet two critical criteria before we accept assignments with substantial land components:

First, sellers must be willing to meet the market. Land remains the most overvalued asset class from buyer’s perspectives. Investors won’t waste time underwriting properties when sellers maintain unrealistic valuations and refuse market-driven pricing. This approach damages seller credibility and typically derails the entire process.

Second, the land must have substantial infrastructure in place to accelerate development timelines and reduce costs. “Greenfield” resort sites hold minimal value in today’s environment, as buyers cannot justify the additional infrastructure investment against return expectations which are generally higher for development deals.

When offerings satisfy both principles, an active market exists for land transactions. As I remind clients: We don’t set the market, we service it. Land sales provide the most demonstrative example of this fundamental truth.

The opportunity lies in the disconnect between motivated sellers and selective buyers—those who understand that today’s challenging conditions create tomorrow’s competitive advantages.

Finance