Isn't buying land just about the best investment you can make?

GervisLooper

Having dabbled a little in stocks and have read around the crypto space a little one thing which irks me about these 'investments' is once you commit your money to them they are effectively frozen stores of value.

You can't do anything with them while they are supposedly appreciating in value. So you are not able to enjoy until some nebulous golden era in the future but what seems to be the case in crypto at least is no one ever wants to sell any and just keep hoarding. Until when I don't know. Probably many will never spend any. This seems like the scrooge mcduck method.

On the other hand with land you get the same benefits but all the while you can use the land without it losing its value. So it is like a double whammy. Short of dropping a nuke on it or dumping toxic waste there is little you could probably do to devalue the land. Sure other things may happen causing it to go down but similar market pressures would be the case for any investment.

The cryptoers, and also gold, always bang on about how it is inflation proof due to being of limited supply. Well isn't that also true of land, since they aren't making any more of it; especially on our small island.

So doesn't it make most sense to buy as much land as you can and also use it for whatever purposes you can?

I suppose most of the above also applies for houses and property however you have running costs with those and buildings fall to ruin without upkeep whereas land just sits there with nature taking care of it for you.

BarelySentientAI

GervisLooper said:

So doesn't it make most sense to buy as much land as you can and also use it for whatever purposes you can?

Use it for what though?

Are you going to go and buy agricultural land and become a farmer?

daveyjp

How do you generate income from land?  Development, licences or working it.  Land which just sits there generates no income.

GervisLooper

BarelySentientAI said:

GervisLooper said:

So doesn't it make most sense to buy as much land as you can and also use it for whatever purposes you can?

Use it for what though?

Are you going to go and buy agricultural land and become a farmer?

daveyjp said:

How do you generate income from land?  Development, licences or working it.  Land which just sits there generates no income.

Well following the analogy of the other investments they don't actively generate income either.

With the land though you can go and enjoy it. Spend time in splendid isolation, and any other number of recreation activities there.

Indeed using the land as a primary source of income is another layer but not what I had in mind.

BarelySentientAI

Untended agricultural land loses value.

Untended woodland loses value and possibly introduces liabilities for the owner.

Land that might be suitable for planning and then is discovered to not be loses value.

Land with undiscovered contamination loses value.

Land that is presently "splendid isolation" and then ends up next to a development is not so isolated any more.

Many recreational activities are not possible on many areas of land.

You have relatively simplistic viewpoint, not far from the "cryptoers" you talk about.  Not necessarily wrong in the grand scheme, but there's a lot more nuance.  Otherwise, why wouldn't everyone just buy chunks of land?

Albermarle

Well following the analogy of the other investments they don't actively generate income either.

There are thousands of investment funds that produce a regular income ( from dividends)
Plus even a savings account currently returns 5% pa.

Exodi

This was an interesting read...

GervisLooper said:

Having dabbled a little in stocks and have read around the crypto space a little one thing which irks me about these 'investments' is once you commit your money to them they are effectively frozen stores of value.
I don't understand what you mean by frozen? Companies that you invest in are always changing and in most cases you're free to buy and sell as you please?

You can't do anything with them while they are supposedly appreciating in value. So you are not able to enjoy until some nebulous golden era in the future but what seems to be the case in crypto at least is no one ever wants to sell any and just keep hoarding. Until when I don't know. Probably many will never spend any. This seems like the scrooge mcduck method.
'Supposedly' is a weird thing to say, because it implies that you think they're not really appreciating in value, but that's 'just what they want us to think'. I think it's clear you're exclusively talking about crypto. I also don't know where you got the idea that 'no one ever wants to sell' in crypto... have you ever seen the order book/trading history on an exchange?

For example: https://www.coinbase.com/en-gb/advanced-trade/spot/BTC-USD 
(Click on trade history).

There are trades happening of every second of every minute of every day.

On the other hand with land you get the same benefits but all the while you can use the land without it losing its value. So it is like a double whammy. Short of dropping a nuke on it or dumping toxic waste there is little you could probably do to devalue the land. Sure other things may happen causing it to go down but similar market pressures would be the case for any investment.
The notion that land (but in practice, house prices) can indefinitely outpace inflation is obviously flawed - there always needs to be someone at the end of the transaction. Also market pressures on land and companies are different, someone investing in an all world index fund might be grinning at their ~20% annual return this year. Someone who is looking to sell their house at the moment probably isn't grinning...

The cryptoers, and also gold, always bang on about how it is inflation proof due to being of limited supply. Well isn't that also true of land, since they aren't making any more of it; especially on our small island.
I don't know where you live, but while land is of limited supply in the UK, I don't think we're quite at the point where the amount of land is an issue. I'll upset the NIMBY's on this forum, but (an example used by house-builders which I think is somewhat valid) if you jump on a plane and look out the window, most of the UK is greenery.

So doesn't it make most sense to buy as much land as you can and also use it for whatever purposes you can?

Such as?

I suppose most of the above also applies for houses and property however you have running costs with those and buildings fall to ruin without upkeep whereas land just sits there with nature taking care of it for you.
If you're using the land you will need to maintain it. Even if you're not, you will need to if you intend to sell it for a premium. I'm not clear if your plan is to build a portfolio of overgrown fields or become a novice housebuilder?

fryedslyce

Your lovely piece of land could quickly become an expensive nightmare.
https://www.cla.org.uk/south-east-news/more-than-100000-fly-tipping-incidents-in-south-east-in-one-year-farmers-speak-of-huge-impact/

RHemmings

If you buy gold or silver as an investment, then you can have it melted down and made into something that you can use. Like goblets, or chess pieces, or maybe even have a sold gold toilet. So, you can have gold or silver as an investment, and also get use out of it.