What is the trend with Land?

Hello. It's been many months since I sold my last bit of SL land and took a break for awhile to focus on RL concerns. I used to enjoy having a lot of beachfront land and putting up houses, renting some of it and generally having a good time. I'm wondering if this is a good time to get back in.

I remember at the time I left, most people were stressed about the possibility of falling land prices, increased tier and general financial instability. One day you're doing fine, and the next LL does something to ruin you.

How is it now? I feel like a noob again.

Prices just finished falling. I think the general consensus is a rise soon. Especialy with LL stopping mainland supply for the time being.

The private island boom due to lowered sim prices is slowing down as well. Good time to buy I say.

Cool--have you heard any rumblings about tier increases?

Jack said it was on hold "until July", which is just a week away. I expect they won't start dumping new sims on the 1st but he really didn't say this was any kind of extended delay in new mainland. If they saw demand spike way up tomorrow, you can bet that they'd start it back up again within a day or 3.

They have been typically mum about tier changes. But, if they increase tier a lot of folks are going to bail out. Some of us are just hanging on due to RL economy as it is. Another nudge and SL will be the first to get cut from RL budgets.

My Prediction: Tier will be redesigned to remove huge jumps in cost, such as 1/2 tier to full tier. Tier will actually be reduced in overall cost for the average avatar.

There's supposed to be a big announcement of some sort during the SL5B celebration. Since LL telegraphed that an announcement was coming, they don't believe that it's a bad announcement, but it wouldn't hurt to hold off on land purchases until we find out what it is.

My thinking is that rather than the recent sim purchase rate reduction, the better thing to have done would have been to lower Tier. I think this would have spurred the economy in a more positive manner. People would have bought more mainland (hence spur the auction market) because they could fit more into their tier bracket, and PI sales would have remained steady because Estate owners could have given a welcomed discount the their residents, rather than have their existing sims lose value over night, with the double whammy of opening the flood for fly by night competition.

It seems so obvious that this would have been the better move that it's painful to think about it.

How bout this:

Leave old sim purchase rates for both private and mainland the same (old rates), or SLIGHTLY reduce.

Make Private Island Tier $195 for all. Upgrade all class 4's to class 5 prior to implementation of new rate.

Make mainland Tier $95 (or $150?). In addition, perhaps add in rates for 6144 and 12288 land levels.

I dunno, maybe its just me....

Wait till the very important announcement, even then the rentals market is barely afloat.
90% of the population aren't prepared to pay to play anymore by the looks.

Equipment prices have fallen, but leasing the space & bandwidth hasn't. The equipment and tier prices are reflecting the market of both pretty well.

At my work, we build an architecturally-similar appliance that cost us over $4000 to build 3 years ago, and now costs about half that, with better components. They follow the same route in cost as home computers. Until a new backbone is constructed (Internet2 seems to be the holy grail), we'll probably be paying the $295 unless a completely new in-world economic model is created.

These days, I see price fluctuations of land based more on designs, than simply what's available. Cheap, mass-produced land is low, Uniquely and aesthetically-terraformed land with good management & extra features pulls in more. The cheap void sims allow for some nice additional acreage for residents who are willing to pay a bit more into it.

I think this Winter will have a significant jump in grid population, once the sun goes down and the weather gets cold. Last year was full of bugs that rendered the grid and clients unusable for such long periods of time that many didn't find it worth it anymore. While there will always be bugs, LL seems to be taking a huge effort in changing this for the better by this winter.

Did I miss something?

The announcement had absolutely nothing to do with land. They just announced a prize of $10,000 US for someone that uses SL to "improve the human condition". If you can figure out what they want based on that vague description, go for it.

LL have stated that they want to manage land prices into the 4-6L per sqm range. Lando Linden is now at work. While location will always command a premium, people need to take Lando into consideration when buying and selling.

like, cure cancer or something. or maybe help Oprah pay her Africa Girls School bills so she doesn't go bankrupt.