Land Smart Resources

Hancock Timber Resource Group recently purchased approximately 75,000 acres of Georgia and Alabama timberland from the Austin, Texas-based Forestar Group Inc. for $120 million, or roughly $1,600/acre.

“We are very pleased to acquire these highly productive timberland properties on behalf of our investors,” said Daniel P. Christensen, President, Hancock Timber Resource Group. “We continue to seek and secure excellent timberland transactions for our investors.”

Institutional investment in timberland accounts for about $40 billion according to a 2008 Merrill Lynch publication. According to Hancock Timber Resource Group, investments in timberland have historically provided total real returns (net of inflation) of 6-10 percent, and nominal returns of 9-15 percent.

Learn more about the history of timber investing…

Adds Tom Brickman of Land Smart Resources, “There’s very little timberland still owned by the U.S. – based forest products industry. It will be interesting to see how institutional buyers continue growth.  More and more they will be forced to buy from each other, like the Hancock-Forestar deal, or go off-shore. Only a small percent of the total timberland in the U.S. is owned by institutional investors, perhaps 5%, with the vast majority still owned by individuals and families.  But these people typically have deep, cultural ties to the land, and the average size is very small, perhaps 100 acres on average.  This is too difficult & fragmented a market to be of strategic importance to institutional buyers.”

“But, individuals can also invest their IRA or 401(k) retirement funds in timberland,” says Tom Brickman.  “It’s legal, easy, and tax deferred like any asset in a qualified account.”

Contact Land Smart Resources to learn more about how they help land investors do this.