Alaska Life Hack: State land auction yields $2.1 million

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MORE STATE LAND TO BE SOLD OVER THE COUNTER THIS MONTH

That 5.2-acre parcel near Mount Rich — a little piece of magnificence in that photo above? It went for $16,000 last week during the state’s annual land auction that took place on July 10. Eighty-two Alaskans had winning bids for 832 acres of land in 87 parcels across the state in an Alaskans-only opportunity to buy property at auction.

The bids totaled $2.1 million according to the Department of Natural Resources. And the department was happy with the sale.

“We were excited to see so much interest this year, and happy to be a part of putting Alaska lands into Alaskans’ hands,” said Rachel Longacre, chief of the state land sales section in the Division of Mining, Land & Water. “Many of the bids were above fair market value, which clearly shows Alaskans’ strong desire to become landowners.”

[Read: So you want to live off the grid? How about Mount Rich?]

Parcels were sold in Southeast, Southcentral, Southwest and Interior Alaska, with a lot of interest in parcels in two new subdivisions: the Forest Highway in Yakutat, and the Sage Subdivision near McCarthy. Some parcels went for well above the minimum bid amount, while others were only slightly above.

All the auction results are available at the Division of Mining, Land and Water’s land sales website, at https://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/landsales/

About 130 parcels not sold at the auction will join the list of other parcels available for sale to Alaskans and non-residents in an over-the-counter offering, starting July 24 at 10 a.m.

DNR offers competitive, in-house financing for land purchases for up to 20 years for land sold by auction or over the counter.

And the State of Alaska offers Alaska resident veterans a once-in-a lifetime discount of 25 percent on the purchase of state land.

The web page for each Auction/OTC parcel provides an estimate of the purchase price with the veterans’ discount for that parcel.

Information on the upcoming sales, including a listing of parcels available for purchase, is available at the division’s land sales website, or on pages 119 and 124 of the official state land sales brochure.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Dear University of Alaska,

    Have I got a fundraising idea for you!!!

    Signed,
    Every Alaskan that supports the cuts to your bloated budget.

  2. You should personally inspect a parcel before buying it; some parcels in the past were simply not worth the price.

  3. Sadly most of the acres might be in remote areas where the tax base can’t be realized . Just think if 1 million acres was sold in the tax base areas and generated $2,500.00 an acres we wouldn’t be having a budget problem this year and new wealth in the private sector would begin to be developed and investment could create jobs ! This is what makes an economy with hope & dreams!

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