Large ranch land sales outside Houston area up

Land within 3 hours of Houston in high demand; Buyers in thriving oil, gas industries

HOUSTON – We know land inside the Loop is selling at record prices, but ranch land outside of Houston is currently a hot commodity, too.

More city dwellers are buying up land in the country to enjoy and as an investment. Beautiful trees, quaint quarters and plenty of lakes for fishing and hunting ducks.

Houstonian Key Collie has an affinity for land near Angleton he's owned for five years.

"We love the place. The proximity to Houston is the main thing about this that makes it great," said Collie.

Collie's place is over 500 acres. He uses it for hunting and fishing mainly. He said it's the perfect weekend getaway.

Jeff Boswell, with Republic Ranches, said he's seeing a trend of more and more people from Houston and Dallas scooping up large ranches outside of Houston.

"Sales in the last year are probably the best we've seen since the early 1990s," said Boswell.

In fact ranch land is selling so quickly he said the problem is finding more land to sell.

"(A) typical ranch for us would be say 500 to 3,000 acres. It would be primarily recreational and it would be wooded hopefully with water features, like lakes and ponds. Most of them have a larger house on them. Not all," said Boswell.

Anything within three hours of Houston is now in high demand. Boswell said many of the buyers are in the thriving oil and gas industry.

Boswell said ranch land is currently going for about $3,000 an acre outside Houston.

"You have to be careful. There's a lot of competition, which means the prices are high but if you can find the right place, it's great," said Collie.


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