Nevada Land Sale
Most of the State of Nevada is comprised of two immense deserts with large expanses of seemingly worthless and barren land. These two deserts are the Great Basin Desert and the Mojave Desert. The State of California shares one of these deserts, the Mojave Desert, so a California land sale should generally parallel the same potential for desert land as would a Nevada land sale.
A recent front page article in the L. A. Times (February 18, 2012) disclosed some fascinating prices for desert land in California. The article mentioned 3,400 acres of desert land for sale that had no paved road, wasn’t suitable for farming, and was extremely isolated. The price was $34 million, or $10,000 per acre. Several years ago the same land would have sold for $500 per acre. The Riverside County Assessor said that barren desert land in the area that normally sells “in the low hundreds” per-acre is now going for $2,000 to $3,000 per acre. That means if you had purchased 1,000 acres several years ago for $500,000, it might bring $3 million today!
What has caused this tremendous run-up in desert land prices? Solar energy plans, projects and speculations!
The front-end costs for a solar project can be very high; therefore, developers depend on federal loan guarantees, tax rebates, and other subsidies to finance construction of these multi-million-dollar solar plants. Most experts predict that eventually solar energy, along with other renewable energy sources, will play a significant role in supplying the nation with future energy. So when viewing a Nevada land sale, keep in mind that there might be more uses for barren desert land than previouly assumed.