Empirical Tests of the Fundamental-Value Hypothesis in Land Markets

Authors

Angeline M. Lavin, University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark, Vermillion, SDFollow
Thomas S. Zorn, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2001

Comments

Published in Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics 22:1 (2001), pp. 99–116. Copyright © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Used by permission.

Abstract

The land-price boom of the 1970s followed by the bust of the 1980s generated considerable interest in the determination of land prices and the study of whether those prices reflect fundamental value. In this article, three techniques are used to examine the fundamental- value hypothesis in Iowa and Nebraska agricultural land markets. Duration dependence tests indicate that land markets are not affected by rational expectations bubbles. Conversely, Markov chain and time-reversibility tests suggest that land prices depart from fundamental value due to the existence of nonrandom price changes and asymmetric land price patterns. The results of this research should be viewed as a complement to the existing body of knowledge in our quest to enhance our understanding of agricultural landprice movements.