Linden Lab sees land supply, prices flat through Q1
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Linden Lab said on Friday that it expects to keep land ownership fees constant through the first quarter of 2008, and that it plans to keep the land supply constant by only replacing abandoned parcels.
After several spikes earlier in the year, land prices have been steady at about L$6.3 per meter, Jack Linden said in a blog post. The company feels that level is appropriate, “low enough for those coming into the land market for the first time and high enough that both mainland and islands can be profitable for those interested in trading or leasing land.”
Linden Lab’s move to keep the land supply and prices flat suggests that net land ownership is essentially flat, with the number of new landowners roughly equivalent to those who are leaving Second Life.
The amount of abandoned land stands at 1 million square meters, equivalent to 16 regions or 0.4 percent of the mainland total.
“We want to keep pushing hard on getting as much of this abandoned land back into use and generally cleaned up, so expect to see more L$ auctions being posted to the auction pages through January,” Jack Linden said.
Several commenters to his blog post noted that although land prices have held steady in U.S. dollars, European users have been affected by the imposition of VAT tax and the falling value of the dollar against the euro.
“European users have been affected by the imposition of VAT tax and the falling value of the dollar against the euro.
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Not much of an effect here, as the two compensate eachother. As long as the dollar stays this low we won’t notice the VAT imposure.
Sat Dec 8, 2007 1:12am PST