Is there data on percentage of all land for sale?

I tried searching the forum for this answer but did not find any obvious threads on this topic. Also, about 40% of the time when I try searching, vBulletin returns an error--LL, please look into. So, I'm asking this question realizing that it may have been discussed already.

Does LL provide market data on the percentage of active sim land currently for sale and auction? Has any resident created a script that spiders all the sims for this data? Is there data on how much new land is created each week? How much is sold each week?

Just looking at the big map, it appears that there is always a lot of land for sale. And since LL is consistently creating more sim land and new island sims are being created regularly, that just adds to the potential inventory.

Unlike in RL, land is theoretically infinite in supply in SL. Furthermore, location, location, location in SL does not really matter as it does in RL. The fundamental market for land speculators seems to be built on tenuous ground--even though many are currently doing quite well.

I suspect this will not be the case in the long run as major continents come online and cause a market glut and as residents realize that in SL, it is not necessary to have a place to "live."

No, not that I've ever seen anyway.



Someone did an age or two ago, well 2004 I think. I'm pretty sure it led to a ban for them...



No. The auctions site shows some of that data, but in-world transactions for land aren't currently separated out in any publicly available data. Land isn't created each week - they plug in a new rack of servers and release new sims every now and again from it, not weekly.



You might be right in your speculation - land prices are tumbling in SL compared to a couple of months ago. You can get good land for about $4/sqm now, in Feb you'd be lucky to find land for less than $8... And location does matter - green land sells for more than white, consistently since a few days after it's release, waterfront sells for more than inland, mature for more than PG, at least on average.

But lots of SL residents have a place to live, bought or rented. It might not be necessary for shelter, warmth or even physical security, but it's quite possibly strongly psychologically embedded in humans to have a home, something that won't got away quickly I suspect.

According to Jesse Linden at last Thursday's community roundtable meeting, extensive stats on SL such as this will be available on this website soon. See next Tuesday's M2 for more info on this (the stats page will probably be available before then).

P2

Eloise:

Thanks for the quick and detailed response. I agree with you about the embedded psychological/visceral response that virtual worlds create in humans.

My point about location is this: although in RL oceanfront property is more desirable, in SL location truly does not matter even in the virtual sense.

Why? Because most ppl teleport directly to where they want to visit, thereby bypassing all other properties. Furthermore, even though it is nice to have a store, club, casino, etcetera located in a "pretty" location, many ppl who frequent these establishments do so because of the community and not the location.

That is why popular non-adult stores can still thrive next to a sex club in SL. Most clients simply teleport out of the store so that they don't have to "see" the sex club. In RL, this would be an issue.

What really matters is creating community around content. Since business owners have a captive, curious audience in SL, all they have to do is create a great experience even if it is in the middle of a plantless sim in the middle of the mainland.

Of course, your point about the physiological response of RW people to the virtual world of SL is why location does seem to currently matter to many.

However, I going to go on record and say that as the world evolves, most residents will learn to separate their visceral reaction to the SL experience and search out good deals instead of good locations. Since land is not a finite resource in SL, this could cause serious problems for those that have lots of sim land for sale.

That is good news! This is the kind of data that will help RW business people such as myself properly analyze the business potential of utilizing the SL platform.