Northeastern Pennsylvania's Land & Development Market (Q4 '25 - Q1 '26) - Focus on Luzerne County

The Period at a Glance

Land is where direct MLS access matters most, because raw land is poorly tracked by the national portals most buyers start with. From October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, 67 land parcels closed in Luzerne County through the multiple listing service, at a median sale price of ($78,000). Prices ran from a ($5,000) building lot to a ($900,000) tract, which is why the median, not the average, is the honest number to lead with.

Land sold at a discount to asking. The median parcel closed at (89.1%) of its final list price and (86.8%) of its original price, after a median of 63 days on the market. Among the 45 sales that reported acreage, the median lot was 2.5 acres and the median price was about ($19,400) per acre.

The fourth quarter of 2025 accounted for 38 sales at a median of ($48,500). The first quarter of 2026 added 29 at a median of ($94,900), as larger parcels made up more of a smaller winter total.

Why We Do Not Publish a Land Price Trend

The same six months a year earlier produced 100 land sales at a median of ($25,000), so on paper the median roughly tripled. It did not. Forty-seven of those 100 earlier sales were lots under ($25,000) and the median lot was under an acre. This period had 18 sales under ($25,000) and a median lot of 2.5 acres. The difference is what sold, not what land is worth, and with samples this small one period against another tells you about the mix rather than the market.

Sales by Price Band

The ($75,000) to ($200,000) band was the deepest, which is where buildable residential acreage tends to trade. Below ($75,000) the market turns on access, utilities and whether a lot can be built on at all. Above ($200,000) the buyer pool narrows to builders and developers, and value is driven by entitlements and highest and best use rather than comparable lot sales.

Where the Sales Happened

Sixty-seven sales spread across a county this size leave no single town with enough to publish a reliable median, so we report where the activity was rather than what it cost. Mountain Top and Dallas led with 7 sales each, followed by Drums with 5, and Nanticoke, Shickshinny, Hazle Township, Harveys Lake and Wilkes-Barre with 4 each. Those eight areas account for 39 of the 67 sales.

The Back Mountain and Mountain Top sales lean toward larger wooded residential acreage. The Hazle Township and Harveys Lake sales lean toward smaller building lots. A buyer comparing the two should expect very different prices for reasons that have nothing to do with the market cycle.

The Surrounding Counties

Land sales in Lackawanna, Wyoming, Monroe and Carbon recorded in our MLS during the period were too few to support a credible median, and we would rather say so than dress up a handful of sales as a market statistic. What holds across all of them is that value is set by the specific parcel, its access, zoning and utilities, far more than by any countywide figure. For land in any of these counties, the right starting point is a parcel-level analysis.

What Drives Land Value Here

Land is the property type where a headline price tells you the least. Two parcels of the same size and asking price can be worth very different amounts depending on what can legally be built on them. The variables that set value are zoning and permitted use, road access and frontage, availability of public water, sewer and power, soils and percolation for an on-lot septic system, and any wetlands, floodplain or steep-slope constraints. A low price per acre often reflects one of those constraints rather than a bargain.

For sellers, the parcels that sell are the ones where the buildability questions are answered up front. For buyers, the diligence is the deal. The parcel that works is the one where access, utilities and use are confirmed before closing, not assumed.

Methodology and Sources

Every figure in this report is a closed land sale recorded in the Luzerne County Association of REALTORS® multiple listing service with a close date from October 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, across all listing brokerages. The comparison period is October 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025. A property entered twice under two property types is counted once, and nominal transfers recorded under ($1,000) are excluded. Medians are reported rather than averages because land prices span an extremely wide range. Lot size and price per acre use only the sales that reported acreage. Town groupings follow the mailing address on the listing.

• Luzerne County Association of REALTORS® multiple listing service, closed land sales, October 2024 through March 2026, retrieved September 23, 2026