September 18, 2023

Work Smarter

Lot Shortage in the US: How TraceAir Accelerates Land Acquisition

Trying to acquire raw land or finished lots to build on? So is everyone else. As the housing demand continues to rise, the competition for acquiring lots is fierce. Discover how top builders use TraceAir as a competitive advantage.

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Despite an increase of 77% from last year, the number of lots available for residential building in the US remains “significantly undersupplied”, according to the second quarter New Home Lot Supply Index (LSI) from Zonda.

The LSI is a residential real estate indicator based on the number of single-family vacant developed lots and the rate at which those lots are absorbed. An index value of 100 represents perfect equilibrium, while a value of 125 or above equals “significantly oversupplied” and a value of 75 or below equates to “significantly undersupplied”. Zonda ranks the current LSI at 63.4.

Overall, the tightest lot supply in major markets was found in Miami, San Diego, and Orlando. Boise, Idaho remains the highest market in the index at 103.9, an increase of 115% compared to last year.

As the housing demand continues to rise, the competition for acquiring lots is fierce. Zonda reported that 45% of builders are “full steam ahead” on land acquisition. Being able to quickly and accurately assess lots is critical for success. To combat this challenge and stay competitive, top builders and developers are turning to TraceAir.

How can TraceAir help?

TraceAir is a cutting-edge technology platform that is revolutionizing land development. By combining advanced aerial imagery with powerful, user-friendly tools and data, TraceAir enables homebuilders and developers to acquire lots faster and accelerate project schedules, giving them a major competitive advantage in the market.

Here’s how TraceAir makes it happen:

Fast, Accurate Land Analysis

Accurately assessing property value, either for finished lots or raw land, can be a major challenge, especially for large and complex sites. Is every lot actually on grade, or will more grading need to be done? Are there stockpiles on site that need to be hauled off? Hills or valleys that need to be leveled or filled? This information is invaluable in determining property value, negotiations, due diligence, and project planning.

Relying on county surveys is a recipe for disaster - they are old, outdated, and unreliable. Using our national network of professional drone pilots, TraceAir provides you with valuable site data and high-resolution imagery within 24 hours of scanning the property. Most importantly, we give you data in a simple platform that you can actually use. No need to waste time driving to the site, wait weeks for aerial topos, or hire expensive consultants.

If you're buying finished lots, TraceAir’s Lot Viewer tool is an absolute game-changer. With one click, it breaks up your project into individual lots and calculates cut/fill balance and elevations. No other tool on the market can achieve such precise and comprehensive verification as quickly and easily as Lot Viewer.

We use Lot Viewer on every project. It has been a game-changing tool for helping us quickly assess our lots and track progress.”

— Ritchie Tan, P.E., Land Acquisitioner, D.R. Horton

With one click, Lot Viewer creates a colored map for easy identification of which lots need cut or fill, and which lots are balanced.

Streamlining Entitlements

The land entitlement process is complex, time-consuming, and costly due to the need for approvals from various government agencies at multiple levels. These agencies hold the authority to grant the crucial permissions to convert raw land into valuable, developable property.

Investors recognize that fully entitled property holds substantially higher value than undeveloped land. Therefore, allowing developers the necessary time and resources to navigate this process is crucial, as they are financially motivated to maximize the property's value.

TraceAir revolutionizes the entitlement process through a multitude of innovative tools. Our overlays tool empowers you to strategically plan and optimize land usage, unlocking its full potential and ensuring compliance. Overlays help mitigate risk by making sure plans align with the land and as-builts. Additionally, our precision measuring tools provide the accuracy needed to meet greenspace, SWPPP, and various other compliance standards with confidence.

Plan with confidence using powerful tools within TraceAir to overlay project plans, conduct measurements, and collaborate.

Full Transparency

By providing unlimited licenses at no additional cost, TraceAir offers an unprecedented level of transparency. Developers, investors, engineers, and local authorities can collaborate and use TraceAir as a single source of truth. Furthermore, TraceAir facilitates effortless collaboration between land acquisition teams and land planning and development teams, ensuring alignment at every step.

This approach not only accelerates decision-making but also minimizes misunderstandings and maximizes the chances of successful land acquisition endeavors.

All the people I work with on my jobs, whether they're moving dirt or creating spreadsheets, absolutely love it. TraceAir elevates the communication and collaboration with everyone involved in the project, from investors and owners to contractors and engineers. The more communication you have on a project, the smoother the project will go.”

— PJ Stambaugh, Land Development Manager, Toll Brothers

Accelerating Project Timelines

Time is money, especially in the homebuilding industry. The faster you can acquire land and get through the entitlements process, the faster you can start building. With TraceAir, you not only speed up the entire project process through data-driven decision-making and enhanced efficiency, but also significantly reduce the risk of delays and errors, saving you valuable time and resources throughout your project's life cycle.

Ready for a competitive advantage?

The reality is that regardless of the housing market, every homebuilder is actively trying to acquire more land. The growing demand for housing is not slowing down, and land prices will only continue to rise. Securing a competitive advantage for acquiring land is paramount for success. The only site intelligence software building specifically for homebuilders and land developers, TraceAir is that advantage.

By expediting land assessment and decision-making processes, reducing risk, and implementing seamless collaboration, TraceAir has earned its place as the #1 choice of top homebuilders.

To learn how TraceAir can empower your land acquisition and development teams, schedule a demo today.

I’m mesmerized by the engineering complexity and beauty of the process of converting the designs into functional spaces. A powerful blend of people’s creative ideas, brutal economics rules, laws of physics, and construction people’s skills and expertise makes this industry so unique. It’s incredibly cool to be a part of this process and contribute to empowering people in it.”

— Maria Khokhlova, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

Construction marketing has always been a challenging and highly rewarding career path. Now that I’m in construction technology, I enjoy communicating how adopting new solutions can drastically increase efficiency for construction teams.”

— Samantha Burns, Head of Marketing

I really enjoy being a part of the construction tech industry. It’s exciting to see ideas such as drones and automation that once were very futuristic now be an everyday reality that helps people and businesses. As a creative person, I find it empowering to work in a space that embraces out of the box thinking and going against the grain.”

— Katie Larrimore, Marketing Specialist

My favorite part about working in the construction industry is listening to customer stories and being able to provide tech solutions to make their job easier. No two divisions are the same, and it’s rewarding to be able to connect and help clients solve their unique challenges here at TraceAir! I am eager to hear new challenges and look forward to the tech solutions down the road that TraceAir will create based on the needs of our clients.”

— Jordan Wojtowecz, Account Executive

The construction technology industry is constantly changing and I love being a part of that evolution. I get to speak with a diverse group of land developers and acquisitioners who are integral parts of the home building machine; making their lives easier is so rewarding.”

— Lauren Schaefer, Business Development Representative

I find it thrilling to be part of an industry with so much room for innovation and growth. Every day I am given the opportunity to speak with and learn from best-in-class homebuilders. At TraceAir, it’s incredibly rewarding to watch great minds come together to make construction a more collaborative and effective industry.”

— Kyra Ketch, Market Development Representative

Built environment impacts our lives on so many levels and the significance of what we do as an industry inspires me every single day. Our shared responsibility for the fragile nature we transform keeps me laser-focused on innovating sustainably. And I am beyond grateful to do so alongside the many amazing women leaders and professionals of TraceAir!”

— Alena Petrova, Product Manager

I've always been fascinated by how so many construction projects are so unique and individual, though the construction processes are the same for all of them. It is awesome to be a part of and to see how choosing to use sustainable materials, taking into account environmental factors, applying innovative engineering ideas and using digital technology make construction better, smarter and faster.”

— Olga Rollins, Operations Manager

I enjoy seeing the projects come together, each project is so different and presents a multitude of challenges that take real teamwork and collaboration to overcome. I love working with my clients in the construction industry and helping them utilize powerful tech tools to help their projects run smoothly.”

— Isabella Knori, Customer Success Manager

I’m particularly interested in the ever-evolving use of spatial data to inform decision making at all stages of construction. The increase in innovation and application, of both vector and raster data products, is really fascinating.”

— Cari Ruffino, Operations Manager

I worked at construction sites for 9 years and I can tell you that it’s so inspiring to see how your efforts grow into real objects. I was a surveyor and I saw all construction processes with my own eyes. The construction industry adapts to the technical progress so slowly, Traceair makes this process better and faster. It's why I like our company - it drives construction to the next level. We are on the way which turns the dreams of our clients into reality, and our dreams too.”

— Olga Razina, GIS Specialist & Customer Success Engineer

Throughout the past 5 years in cartography & GIS, I have observed how technologies and automatization are making the industry better and faster. I find inspiring bringing this into construction to make the industry even greater! Humans are everywhere, everybody needs place, construction grows. TraceAir shows that we are able to reach our designs faster with drones help and to enjoy the process using platform, maps, tools, etc. Join us!”

— Vera Lugovskaya, GIS Specialist

Lot Shortage in the US: How TraceAir Accelerates Land Acquisition