There must be a direct correlation between the number of people and the availability of land. If there is a direct correlation today, it might not be the same in the future as the value of land is shifting. Individuals seem to not care to own land and large corporations, seeing the profit potential in land are hungry for land.
In Texas, it all started with the separation of Texas lands from Mexico as a result of the war with Mexico. Those early settlers and those who fought in the war with Mexico were given grants of land from the Republic of Texas as a reward. The grants were large (by todays standards) ranging from 1380 acres to 640 acres.
The process went something like this: the grantee was given a certificate which when submitted to the government, allowed the grantee to request a survey in an area chosen by the grantee. That survey then took on the name of the grantee. Since this parcel of land now had its first owner, that owner is said to have a patent on that parcel.
Some persons who had rights to land chose instead to sell their certificate to speculators for cash, as they saw no value in the land. It is plain to see that unless you chose to farm, the land was more or less worthless. In the beginning of the Republic and later as a state, there was a huge amount of public land and very few people. Land was worth very little. As a result of all of this, the state of Texas Land Grant map is covered with surveys of the original land patents. These surveys get to be part of the deed descriptions in later years, in spite of the fact that many of the surveys had substantial errors.
Over time, land parcels keep getting smaller and smaller, principally because the value of land in per acre terms is more valuable in smaller chunks. No secret about it, buy a big chunk of land, say 2000 acres, chop it up into postage size lots and sell them (if you can) for a huge gain. That's what developers do.
There is not much acreage accretion going on any more, but at one time it was profitable to buy smaller segments of land and amass a larger tract for cattle raising, or for mineral rights. That era may have passed by in this state.
There is another force going on but not well noticed. Individual homes are being put on smaller and smaller lots, and more and more people are opting for apartment living. All of this would indicate that individual demand to own land is going down. Counteracting this is the developers interest in land to create the densely populated areas. Thus, land value is probably rising or at least staying at a constant value.
But, make no mistake, population keeps rising and the amount of land stays constant, so the value of land must go up with time.
In Texas, it all started with the separation of Texas lands from Mexico as a result of the war with Mexico. Those early settlers and those who fought in the war with Mexico were given grants of land from the Republic of Texas as a reward. The grants were large (by todays standards) ranging from 1380 acres to 640 acres.
The process went something like this: the grantee was given a certificate which when submitted to the government, allowed the grantee to request a survey in an area chosen by the grantee. That survey then took on the name of the grantee. Since this parcel of land now had its first owner, that owner is said to have a patent on that parcel.
Some persons who had rights to land chose instead to sell their certificate to speculators for cash, as they saw no value in the land. It is plain to see that unless you chose to farm, the land was more or less worthless. In the beginning of the Republic and later as a state, there was a huge amount of public land and very few people. Land was worth very little. As a result of all of this, the state of Texas Land Grant map is covered with surveys of the original land patents. These surveys get to be part of the deed descriptions in later years, in spite of the fact that many of the surveys had substantial errors.
Over time, land parcels keep getting smaller and smaller, principally because the value of land in per acre terms is more valuable in smaller chunks. No secret about it, buy a big chunk of land, say 2000 acres, chop it up into postage size lots and sell them (if you can) for a huge gain. That's what developers do.
There is not much acreage accretion going on any more, but at one time it was profitable to buy smaller segments of land and amass a larger tract for cattle raising, or for mineral rights. That era may have passed by in this state.
There is another force going on but not well noticed. Individual homes are being put on smaller and smaller lots, and more and more people are opting for apartment living. All of this would indicate that individual demand to own land is going down. Counteracting this is the developers interest in land to create the densely populated areas. Thus, land value is probably rising or at least staying at a constant value.
But, make no mistake, population keeps rising and the amount of land stays constant, so the value of land must go up with time.
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