Couple things to consider:
1) Been roughly 20 years since interest rates were at current level. Guessing there were plenty of land buyers in the market then who thought that land prices were out of control, just like there are plenty who think the same thing now.
2) In my occupation as a land agent/realtor I talk on a regular basis to a lot of different landowners who are looking at potentially selling. I'm always interested to know when they acquired their land and for how much $. I talked to a landowner the other day that said they bought their land for $100/acre in the early 90's. You know how often I hear from them: "Boy this land just seemed so dirt cheap at that time that I had to buy it!" Almost never. Every successive generation of land buyers thinks land is way more expensive "than it used to be". Really the only time that calculus changes is when land takes a marked regressive shift in price/value because of broader economic headwinds. Hardly anyone in 2020 would have said that southern Iowa hunting land at $3,750/acre was "dirt cheap"....but now, in Summer of 2024? No one would *not* say that price was dirt cheap if they found good southern Iowa hunting land at that price right now! You'd think it had terrible neighbors, or a hog barn next door, surrounded by public land, or was in wrp if you found southern Iowa land at that price right now.
The key is not to look at the price of land per acre compared to 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. It's to look at the price *adjusted for inflation*, because the price of land isn't the only thing that has skyrocketed, so have a lot of peoples wages and their standard of living. If you thought a $40k annual 1-person income was a decent income 10 years ago, chances are good that now you'd think it needs to be more like $50-$60k.
