Southeast Land Markets Experience Surge as Agricultural Families Migrate North

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

30 Jul 2025

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The Southeast’s land markets are experiencing significant growth as agricultural families sell high-value properties in Central and South Florida to reinvest in more affordable farmland across North Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. This migration pattern, combined with institutional investment in agricultural assets and demographic shifts, is affecting rural land values throughout the region.

Bryant Peace, Senior Advisor at Saunders Real Estate, has witnessed this change firsthand from his position at the Florida-Georgia state line. The firm, founded by Dean Saunders in the mid-1990s, has grown from its Lakeland, Florida headquarters to operate across five states, completing over $800 million in transactions in 2024 alone.

“Some families will literally have owned cattle ranches outside of Orlando or Kissimmee area for generations, and the opportunity is just too good to resist to sell that property for tens of millions of dollars,” Peace explains. “They’re able to sell extremely high in Central South Florida and reinvest at a much more reasonable number, and generationally continue to love the land and hunt and farm and raise livestock.”

The Perfect Storm of Market Drivers

Multiple factors are coming together to drive demand for Southeast land markets. The most significant is demographic: baby boomers, who control approximately 80% of the nation’s assets, are retiring in large numbers and relocating to warmer climates with lower costs of living.

“A lot of it is just the biological clock of boomers relocating in mass to parts of the country like the Southeast,” Peace notes. “They’re retiring with assets and can move to a new place in the sunshine and buy property that’s significantly less expensive than anywhere else in the country.”

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated these trends as people sought more space and questioned dense urban living. Technology advances, particularly satellite internet services like Starlink, have made remote rural locations more viable for those who need reliable internet connectivity.

Peace observes that families selling in Central Florida are finding strong value propositions in North Florida’s rural markets: “You’re buying it at a 30% to 50% discount in many cases. We have some really good, high-quality farmland throughout North Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, and it’s priced much more reasonably than what it would take to buy something similar in Central or South Florida.”

Institutional Investment in Agricultural Assets

Beyond family migrations, institutional investors are increasingly targeting Southeast agricultural land for food security and long-term appreciation potential. These investments focus on properties with quality soil and abundant groundwater resources.

“Food security is a major issue that we’ve got to as a country realize and focus on,” Peace explains. “The returns are not as exciting as other assets to invest in, but it’s a required product. It’s seen as a safe, steady, consistent, conservative vehicle to invest in, and long-term, the appreciation potential of owning what is truly limited, good soil, good water, is a pretty good investment.”

The Mid-South Delta region has attracted particular institutional attention due to its exceptional soil quality and groundwater abundance. This institutional focus has been building for nearly a decade, providing steady demand for agricultural properties across the region.

Development Pressure and Land Banking

The growth isn’t limited to agricultural use. Investors are targeting large farm and timberland parcels outside growth markets for future development, essentially land banking in anticipation of continued Southeast population growth.

“They see the growth trends, so they’re going to buy something at agricultural value and sit on it and hold it, wait five to 10 years, take it through the entitlement process, and prospectively sell it for three or four times what they bought it for,” Peace describes.

This strategy requires patience and understanding of the development timeline. Peace notes that converting agricultural property to development use typically takes 18 to 24 months for land use changes, wetland studies, and permit approvals, a process that many landowners underestimate.

Regional Growth Patterns

The growth spans multiple Southeast markets, with strong activity in North Florida’s I-10 corridor. The Florida Panhandle has seen dramatic appreciation, with core counties experiencing 200% to 400% increases in land values over the past five years.

“North Central Florida is very much still rural once you get north of Ocala,”Peace observes. “Really, the only sizable town is Gainesville. So northern North Central Florida is right to receive a lot of the reinvestment of agricultural families moving north.”

This pattern extends beyond Florida’s borders. Saunders Real Estate has expanded into Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and North Carolina, following client demand and growth opportunities across the broader Southeast region.

Market Infrastructure and Competitive Advantages

Success in this specialized market requires both technological infrastructure and deep expertise. Saunders Real Estate has invested in marketing infrastructure and proprietary technologies while focusing on recruiting experienced advisors with extensive product knowledge.

“We focus on recruiting team members that have a lot of experience and extensive product knowledge,” Peace explains. “Most of these individuals are really good enough to be on their own and have their own shop, but we’ve effectively given them a better vehicle from which they can scale their business.”

The firm’s approach combines robust marketing support with expertise in areas like conservation easements, a program founder Dean Saunders helped create at the Florida state level. This dual focus on sales and conservation allows the company to serve landowners whether they’re looking to sell, invest, or preserve natural resources.

Looking Forward

The momentum shows no signs of slowing. Despite increased hurricane frequency along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, population growth continues across both coastal and inland Southeast markets. Saunders Real Estate recently opened an Alabama office and is recruiting in North Carolina, positioning for continued regional expansion.

“We’re on pace to eclipse last year’s numbers,” Peace notes of the company’s 2025 prospects. “We built a great platform to help real estate professionals in the land brokerage sector scale their business.”

For investors and industry professionals, the Southeast land markets represent a convergence of demographic trends, institutional investment strategies, and geographic advantages that appear likely to sustain growth well into the future. The key is understanding that success requires patience, expertise, and recognition that this market operates on longer timelines than traditional real estate transactions.

The migration of agricultural families from high-value Central Florida properties to more affordable Southeast markets represents more than just individual investment decisions, it’s a fundamental shift in how land value and agricultural operations are distributed across the region, with implications that extend far beyond real estate into food security, conservation, and rural economic development.