Land Purchases and Acquisitions, 1975-77 -- A Report on a Landownership Follow-on Survey

Of the estimated 34 million owners of land in the United States on January 1, 1978, 3.3 million purchased or acquired 5.2 million parcels containing 112.5 million acres between 1975 and 1977. About 18 percent of the acres were acquired from relatives, by purchase or inheritance. Buyers incurred transfer costs of $1.8 billion, or $1,464 per parcel acquired. An estimated one-sixth of the owners acquired the land in a cash deal, and another 43 percent said they obtained financing from a commercial bank or savings and loan. Mortgages averaged 22 years in length and carried an average interest rate of 8.3 percent. One percent of the land acquired was changed from cropland to noncropland, and 4 percent was changed from noncropland to cropland. Over one-third of the land acquired was to be operated as a separate farm and one-fourth was added to existing farms