IRVINE, CA-Investors who were previously priced out of land sales by high-bidding home builders are now stepping in to close deals, according to a land brokerage based here. The Hoffman Co. says that a significant increase in land transactions in Southern California over the past several weeks is a result of dropping prices that are beginning to attract other investors now that home builders are not pursuing land deals as they once did.

Norm Scheel, principal of the Hoffman Co., reports that the firm has closed on seven land purchases across Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties since early September. The parcels range from key corner properties to swaths of land of up to 56 acres with a total value of more than $30 million. The firm has also placed another $50 million in land deals under contract over the past month.

Only one of the Hoffman Group's recent buyers was a home builder. The rest were individual investors using their own money, trying to acquire land at bargain prices and hold it until the markets bounce back.