Proposed legislation in Congress to sell off Bureau of Land Management property would include thousands of acres in Washington.
However, with restrictions on what the land can be used for and which parcels can be sold, people in the state’s real estate business doubt there’ll be many buyers for the land if the bill passes.
Earlier versions of the bill looked to include U.S. Forest Service land in sales. But after objections from conservation groups, outdoor recreationists and legislators, the proposal by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, removed Forest Service land and required only BLM to sell off land, between 612,500 and 1.2 million acres.
The bill also requires the land to be sold be within 5 miles of a population center, and used solely for housing development or housing-related infrastructure and amenities.
BLM declined to comment on the ongoing legislation and how the sales would be managed.
Under the bill’s new stipulations, Washington would have 344,252 available acres for sale, according to an analysis from The Wilderness Society. This number could shrink further when adjusted to be near population centers.
Most of the available land would be along the Columbia River and in Okanogan County. Considering the land purchases must be used for housing development, brokers forecast little expansion in the market.
BLM “would almost have to give it away in order to get somebody in here to develop anything,” said Bryon Clarke, a Washington-based broker for Hayden Outdoors. “There’s not a big demand for one thing, and there’s not a lot of jobs up here. There’s not much industry or anywhere where anyone could ever work.”
Hayden Outdoors, which has offices across the country, focuses on farm, ranching and recreational land sales. Clarke brokers properties across the state, including in counties where most of the BLM land is located.
“This is all basically out in the middle of nowhere properties, and you’d have to be insane to come out here and try to do a housing development,” Clarke said. “Everything up here would be very slow to take off, for sure.”
Clarke said selling the land could have benefits for communities, though, even if not through more housing. Selling to private owners would allow the land to be taxed, putting more money into local governments. And private owners might take better care of some of the parcels, which Clarke said the BLM does a poor job managing.
Paul Jewell, government relations director with the Washington State Association of Counties, said he has only heard from a few counties about the proposed sale. Most say they feel public land is a big asset.
For counties with high percentages of public land, Jewell said, a larger tax base could be welcome. “But that’s only one piece of the puzzle,” Jewell said.
The bureau already sells parcels identified as difficult to manage, no longer serving the specific purpose for which they were acquired or needed for public goals, including community expansion.
While demand exists for larger tracts — between 500 to 20,000 acres — there is less demand for housing, Clarke said. Most people who purchase the large parcels use them for farming, ranching or hunting.
A 2024 report from the Methow Housing Trust found an estimated 436 housing units were needed in the Methow Valley in north-central Washington. Demand is expected to grow.
Ina Clark, the managing broker of Mountain to River Realty, said the lack of housing in the Methow Valley is not because of a lack of land, but a lack of money. She could see BLM land sales only slightly affecting the market.
“A lot of these parcels wouldn’t be buildable anyway,” Clark said. “So, I don’t see it being this huge boom for our business.”
Instead, the sales could end up hurting the industry, she continued, because public lands make real estate in the valley so desirable.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, said during a news conference Wednesday that although Washington has a housing crisis, selling public land will not create more housing.
“What is more likely to happen is that developers will buy up the choicest (parcels) and develop them for something else — not affordable housing, something way more expensive,” Cantwell said.
All of the land sold would be subject to local zoning laws, which, according to Jewell, could make development exceptionally difficult or, in some cases, nearly impossible.
What actual sales will look like if the sales go forward is unknown. Jewell said they will most likely go through an auction, and the deed will probably have a restriction for housing and housing-related infrastructure only.
