Picture a situation we see all the time: someone in Ohio or New York bought a quarter-acre lot in Marion Oaks decades ago, maybe as a future retirement spot. They’ve paid the property taxes every year, never built, and now keep seeing headlines about how fast Ocala is growing. Is now the time to sell?

The honest answer is that it depends on where your land sits and what can be built on it. Here’s what’s changing in Marion County this year, and what it means for owners of vacant lots and acreage.

Southwest Marion County is getting new roads

In July 2026, county commissioners approved buying a residential parcel to make way for the Marion Oaks Manor Extension, a road project meant to improve east-west travel in southwest Marion County, take pressure off CR 484, and serve growth around the new South Marion High School. (352today)

The extension is planned as a four-lane road with an overpass across I-75, and it is still in design. (352today) Projects like this take years, but they tend to pull builders and buyers toward the neighborhoods they serve, including Marion Oaks and the SR 200 and CR 484 corridors.

Growth is the issue of the year

How Marion County grows was front and center in this year’s county commission races, with candidates talking about respecting the urban growth boundary and protecting horse country and farmland. (WCJB) For landowners, that matters: land inside the growth boundary near roads and utilities tends to attract builders, while land outside it is more likely to stay rural and sell to people looking for homesites, horses or privacy.

Prices vary widely by location. One 2026 buyer’s guide puts rural residential land in areas like Ocklawaha or Citra at roughly $4,000 to $25,000 per acre, with land in the southwest Ocala equestrian corridor reaching $30,000 to $80,000 or more per acre. (Terra Prime Lots) Small platted lots in subdivisions like Marion Oaks, Rainbow Lakes Estates and Silver Springs Shores trade in their own range, driven by utilities, road access and zoning.

Why manufactured homes are part of the story

Mortgage rates have climbed again. Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.03% on September 24, 2026, up from 6.30% a year earlier. (Freddie Mac) At those rates, a new site-built home is out of reach for many local buyers.

That’s pushing more families toward manufactured homes. The average new manufactured home sold for about $115,557 in 2025, according to Census Bureau data, and industry figures put manufactured homes at roughly $87 per square foot versus about $166 for site-built construction. (PrefabMarket) If your parcel’s zoning allows a manufactured home, that widens your pool of buyers, and it’s worth knowing before you set a price.

Before you sell, get these three answers

  • Zoning and what can be built. Site-built only, or manufactured homes too? It changes who will buy.
  • Utilities. Central water and sewer, or well and septic? Buyers and builders price these very differently.
  • Taxes and title. Any back taxes, liens or missing heirs are fixable, but it’s better to know up front.

If you own land in Marion County and want a straightforward cash offer, see our Marion County land page or request an offer. We’ll look up your parcel and tell you honestly what we see.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures and project timelines come from the sources linked above and may change.