Land glut taking economy down?

I am releatively new, but have noticed in the last few weeks an incredible amount of land being made available, have watched many sims going at auction. Surely all this additional land is affecting the economic exchange rate? Land prices also seem to be dropping, a 1024 plot seemed to be about 6999 a few weeks back now just over 6000, there is land available everywhere - cheap.

If land is released like this then the economy will be unstable, surely there should be an upfront plan to releasing new sims to auction: like 1 a week and not like the 30 or so in last 2 weeks. Supply and demand? If Lindens release land like the last 2 weeks all the land in game will become worthless! I really think the recent land releases will cause the exchange rate to get even worse. For users dealing in land the market is totally unpredictable as its down to how much lindens release and when.

Also what about the land barons! surely by now they must be fully stocked and unable to sell at usuall rate? hard to see how they make a profit when so much land available - the economy seems false over land, because instead of the price falling to nothing it never falls below what they have paid at auction, they are not going to let go for less than they paid despite glut. Sims should be auctioned off starting at $1 and not $1000.

As a first time buyer /seller i would also like to point out the sickening behaviour of some land barons in first land areas; i was amazed to see how many plots barons bought up from newbies to make profit, tricking the newbies down in price, advertising cubes everywhere offering 2000 lindens for a newbies 512. First land should not be available for resale for 2 months after purchase! that way the newbies will have had time to see how the markets work.

Just looking for some views! dont blow me away my first post!!

Promise not to bite Amon
Your observations on the supply of land hold some weight. It would be hard to deny that over-supply of land is going to affect the $L. My own observations on land prices falling recently accord with yours.
Re: L$2000 for a 512. L$4 a metre is pretty much the standard price 'barons' offer for mature properties, not just first land. In many cases, these same barons are selling at around $2500 for a 512, so that's not what I would call an exploititive offer. Remember, the more they pay, the more they have to pass on when they resell. They have to have some sort of decent margin, they're assuming all the risk. I've seen it stated on the forums by some with a particular bee in their bonnett, that any less than L$4000 for your first land and you're getting ripped off... $L4000 is pretty high for a 512, it'd want to be in a pretty sweet spot, and then imagine what people would say about greedy 'barons' once they put their margin on it? When you sell land to a 'baron', you're trading some of your profit for the elimination of risk. You can't expect to realise the same amount as if you sat there and sold it yourself, but you do get it straight away.
Making first land not for resale for 2 months after purchase... well, that'd just hurt you guys, wouldn't it. Flipping your first land is for most, the first opportunity for an SL 'earner'. There would be some who'd rather realise that quicker and move on and use the money elsewhere. They should be free to do so.

The price of 1000$ a SIM brings the value per sq. meter to ~4.5L$ That looks to be reasonably fair. It should not affect the L$ a lot either. The big sims are bought in US$, if the L$ drops the resale prices per sq. meter will just change as a lot of people will have invested iusing US$

Starting the bids of at 1$ would on the other hand possibly cause disaster. It could lead to a lot of speculation. Sure when there's limited supply and huge demands using 1$ works because more people track the bid hence pushing auctions beyond what they should go to. But just like the real world there should be a set minimum amount the owner wants to pocket. Basicly the start price avoids some of the problems that may arise from releasing that much land.

I'm a newb too and a first time seller/buyer. I claimed my free land and am planning to stay there for a while. I don't see any reason to expand beyond the 512 unless I'd really need it. The only person who could possibly convince me to sell is my neighbour she has bought up 2 other parcels to get to 1536 and if she'd need mine to go to 2048 I'd do it for the price I'd need to get a 512 elsewhere.

Prims! More Prims! Never enough of em.

There certainly is a land glut. In addition to the glut of sales, Governor Linden holds ~500 sims-worth of mainland in total, out of ~1300 mainland sims in total. Around 20% of each sim should be owned by the Governor, what is actually owned is 35-40%.

Now imagine if LL released just half of that land quickly I guess that they can't because of the glut of sales already in evidence.

It's $1250 a sim, no, or over L$5.5/sm.

On the other hand Linden Labs gets less than L$3/sm for First Land (that's US$9.95 - L$2000 in the first month + L$512 for the land).

*shoots self*

Just so we're clear, everyone knows that I rule the Amons right? That's what Kha means.

I suggest you check out the auctions, they start at 1000$ and last few days a few have sold for a bit above 1000$. On the other hand some have sold for quite a bit over 1000$ which is pretty interesting to see.

You're swapping sims with islands. A small island is 1 sim big and does indeed cost 1250$ but it's not the same as owning land. The biggest difference is that you can't cut it up and sell parcels while as far as I know you can perfectly do this with the sims you buy in the auctions.

The minimum price for a mainland sim might be $1000, but what's the average?
No, you can't, but you can "sell" it and keep the difference between the rent you charge and the tier you pay as well... which you can't do on the mainland.