Pulaski County Market Report

Pulaski County land ground pulled back a bit in August, and the numbers tell a mixed story depending on which end of the transaction you're sitting on. Twenty-seven active parcels is down seven from last month, and with only 5 new listings hitting the market against 5 closings, supply tightened to 5.4 months. That's still a balanced market on paper, but the real story is in the sold numbers — median sold price dropped to $78,000, down over 50% month-over-month, and the list-to-sale ratio slipped to 87.9%. Don't read that as land losing value across the board. With a small sample of closings each month, one or two smaller-acreage or lower-priced parcels selling can swing the median hard. The median $/acre on sold ground still held at $5,769, and asking prices on active inventory sit at $7,102/acre — sellers are pricing ground with confidence, buyers just aren't paying full freight without negotiating room right now. Average days on market jumped to 157.8, which tells you the parcels that are moving are taking real time to find the right buyer.

The character of what's on the market right now favors the serious land buyer over the casual looker. With 62% of listings carrying timber, 58% touching hunting habitat, and 54% offering some kind of water feature — creek, pond, or river frontage — this is squarely a recreational and lifestyle market more than a row-crop market. Only 12% of active listings mention pasture or hay ground, so if you're looking for tillable acreage or grazing land, expect a short list and expect to move on it. Half the active inventory includes a barn, shop, or outbuilding, and 58% already have a cabin or retreat structure on site — meaningful for the Fort Leonard Wood-area buyer pool looking to get boots on the ground for hunting or weekend use without building from scratch. With archery season and firearms deer season approaching, expect renewed interest in the timbered ridge and creek-bottom parcels that make up the bulk of this inventory — that seasonal pull often tightens the market further heading into fall.

Area by area, Dixon leads in activity with 9 active listings and the largest median acreage at 90.7 acres, asking $300,000 — solid ground for buyers wanting scale. Richland's small four-listing pool skews hard toward farm ground with a median ask of $1,172,500, reflecting larger, higher-value operations rather than typical recreational tracts. St. Robert and Waynesville offer the more affordable entry points, both under $200,000 median ask on 20-plus acre parcels, likely to draw the veteran and active-duty buyer segment looking for a manageable first piece of ground near Waynesville corridor access. Crocker's three listings are pricier per-acre at $425,000 median ask on under 60 acres — sma