Real Estate

Agrihoods become newest real estate hot commodity?

Becoming more sought-after than golf courses

Farm Markets rose in popularity in the recent years, encouraging some home-owners to even start their own gardens in their homes. Unfortunately, often times the over-development of the land makes farming impossible. The solution? Agrihoods.

One development, Serosun, plans to build homes surrounded by 160 acres of farm land, according to an article by Amy Hoak for realtor.com.

From the article:

The concept isn’t new, but “agrihoods” are gaining in popularity, said Ed McMahon, senior resident fellow for the Urban Land Institute, an organization that focuses on land-use issues. He tracks about 200 agrihoods, where residential development coexists with farmland. Twenty years ago, there were maybe five or 10, and they were often called “conservation communities,” developments where green space wasn’t an afterthought, McMahon said. Most of the new agrihoods have been built after the recession, he added.

“We started to realize you could cluster houses on a small portion of a farm and keep the farm working,” he said. People were often drawn to the open spaces. More recently, however, there has been a huge interest in locally grown food. “All of a sudden, agrihoods have become a hot commodity in residential development,” McMahon said.

In fact, agrihoods are growing so popular, that they are even becoming more desirable than other commodities such as golf courses.

From the article:

Developers like agrihoods, too, because they can be less expensive to build, and a farm is a feature that sets the community apart, said [developer John] DeWald. “Developers are seeing that a farm or a garden may be a better amenity than a golf course,” he said.

In their heyday, people bought homes in golf course communities because they liked the open views of the fairway — not necessarily because they planned on golfing a lot, McMahon said. Farms offer plenty of open views as well, yet come with a vastly different business model than a golf course. People don’t need to golf. They do need to eat. What’s more, there’s often less infrastructure for a developer to build, he said.

But, the homes cost a premium, read the article to find out how much more!

Most Popular Articles

3d rendering of a row of luxury townhouses along a street

Log In

Forgot Password?

Don't have an account? Please