Vice President of Land Acquisition Salary Guide
MatchBuilt has spent 20 years placing executive leaders with national, regional, and private homebuilders. Our compensation data is based on actual placements and accepted offers.
In 2026, Vice President of Land Acquisition base salaries in homebuilding range from $175,000 to $265,000. The role owns the front end of the business: sourcing deals, underwriting land, guiding entitlements, and delivering the finished lots that feed starts and closings.
2026 Vice President of Land Acquisition Salary & Compensation
| Base salary | $175,000 – $265,000 |
| Target bonus | 50% – 2X base salary, plus equity |
| Auto allowance | Yes |
* These figures are based on actual placements, accepted offers, and market knowledge.
Vice President of Land Acquisition role and responsibilities
The Vice President of Land Acquisition owns the front end of the homebuilding business: finding land, underwriting deals, and moving them through entitlements until finished lots are ready for operations. Titles vary by builder, but the role typically covers deal sourcing, broker relationships, land underwriting and pro formas, letters of intent and purchase agreements, due diligence, entitlements and rezoning, and the land pipeline schedule that feeds starts.
In most organizations the Vice President of Land Acquisition reports to the Division President or a regional land executive, and leads a team of land acquisition managers, analysts, and entitlement specialists. The role sits at the intersection of finance, legal, and operations: every deal must pencil for the builder, survive legal and title review, and deliver lots on a timeline the construction team can build on.
At national builders the role often focuses on one division or market, with major deals going to a corporate land committee for approval. At regional and private builders the Vice President of Land Acquisition may carry broader authority across markets, with direct access to ownership on major acquisitions.
What homebuilders look for in a Vice President of Land Acquisition
Homebuilders hire a Vice President of Land Acquisition for deal flow and judgment. The first thing hiring teams screen for is a record of sourced and closed transactions: raw land, finished lots, and option deals that turned into profitable communities.
Underwriting discipline matters as much as sourcing. Builders want a leader who builds rigorous pro formas, walks away from deals that do not pencil, and understands residual land value, development budgets, and absorption pacing. Entitlement experience is a major differentiator, since rezonings and approvals can make or break a pipeline.
Relationships round out the profile: brokers who bring off-market deals, land sellers, municipalities, engineers, and attorneys. Deep market knowledge of submarkets, school districts, traffic patterns, and competing communities is what separates a strong candidate from a merely connected one.
How this role differs from a Director of Land
A Director of Land typically manages the day-to-day pipeline in a market: underwriting support, due diligence coordination, and deal execution under direction. The Vice President of Land Acquisition sets the land strategy: which submarkets to target, how much to pay, what product the lots must support, and how the pipeline maps to the division’s starts plan.
Authority is the other dividing line. A Vice President of Land Acquisition usually has sign-off on letters of intent and deal terms, presents to the land committee or ownership, and is accountable for the pipeline number. The Director of Land executes within that framework. The step up is one of the most common promotion paths in homebuilding land departments.
What affects Vice President of Land Acquisition salary?
Two executives with the same title can earn very different compensation. The reason is scope. A Vice President of Land Acquisition feeding one division’s starts plan and one managing land across multiple markets carry different levels of responsibility. The low end of the range tends to reflect single-market roles and smaller builders; the high end reflects multi-market scope, larger pipelines, and more competitive land markets.
Scope matters beyond market count. Annual closings the pipeline must support, the number of active deals and total lots under control, team size, entitlement complexity, and the competitiveness of the market can all move compensation. A leader who consistently sources off-market deals in a land-constrained market commands a premium because the pipeline is the company’s future revenue.
Our annual compensation report is now live. Dive into base salaries, bonuses, and auto allowances for homebuilding roles, grounded in actual placements, not surveys. Read the report
What separates pay levels for a Vice President of Land Acquisition
The difference is rarely the title. It is the scope and the track record. At the lower end of the range, you will typically find a Vice President of Land Acquisition running land for a single division: sourcing deals, managing a small team, and feeding a defined starts plan. At the upper end, you will find multi-market responsibility, a larger team, and a pipeline that must support thousands of annual closings.
The factors that move a candidate up the scale: closings volume the pipeline supports, the number of lots under control, entitlement wins, off-market deal flow, team size, broker network depth, and a record of deals that delivered profitable communities. A leader with a repeatable sourcing engine gets priced accordingly.
What can push compensation above the range
Some situations justify pay above the published range. Builders entering a new market will pay a premium for a land leader with deep local relationships and entitled pipeline ready to go. Turnaround situations, where the pipeline is thin and starts are at risk, also stretch the role beyond typical scope.
Candidates with a rare combination of sourcing, entitlements, and underwriting strength are priced accordingly. And a leader with a proven record of delivering entitled lots that became top-performing communities will often land above range because the builder is buying future revenue, not just management.
How Vice President of Land Acquisition bonuses and equity work
Target bonuses for a Vice President of Land Acquisition run 50% to 2X base salary, plus equity participation. Payouts are usually tied to measurable outcomes: lots acquired or controlled, deals closed, pipeline growth, entitlement milestones, and division closings and profitability.
Equity structures vary by builder type. Public builders may offer restricted stock or long-term incentive plans, while private builders often use profit participation or phantom equity tied to community or division performance. One caution that applies at every level: a large target is only worth what the payout history supports. Ask how often targets were actually paid before you treat the number as real.
What candidates should ask about the bonus
Target bonus multiples only tell part of the story. Before accepting an offer, candidates should ask how the bonus has actually paid out over the last two to three years.
Ask what metrics drive it: is it tied to lots closed, pipeline growth, entitlements, or division profit? Find out where the thresholds and caps sit, and how much of the payout is formula-based versus discretionary. And ask how the equity works: vesting schedules, performance conditions, and what happens on a change of control.
Also clarify timing: when the bonus pays out, and what happens on a mid-year hire or an early exit. A 2X target that has never paid above 1X is not really a 2X target.
How to use this salary range
If you are hiring: benchmark your offer before you lose a finalist over compensation. If your offer sits below the range for the scope you are hiring, the market will tell your candidate.
If you are a candidate: use the range to evaluate an offer, then dig into the full package. Bonus metrics and payout history, equity or profit participation, auto allowance, and long-term incentives matter as much as base salary.
Vice President of Land Acquisition Salary FAQs
What is the Vice President of Land Acquisition salary range in homebuilding?
Vice President of Land Acquisition base salaries in homebuilding range from $175,000 to $265,000, with target bonuses of 50% to 2X base salary plus equity. Where an offer lands depends on the scope of the role, including the markets covered, the size of the land pipeline, closings volume, and entitlement complexity. We describe the range rather than a single figure because two leaders with the same title can be paid very differently.
How much bonus does a Vice President of Land Acquisition get?
Target bonuses run 50% to 2X base salary, plus equity participation. Payouts are usually tied to lots acquired or controlled, deals closed, entitlement milestones, and division closings and profitability. In a strong year, bonus and equity can rival base salary.
Do Vice Presidents of Land Acquisition get equity?
Typically, yes. Public builders may offer restricted stock or long-term incentive plans, while private builders often use profit participation or phantom equity tied to community or division performance. The structure differs, but equity participation is common at this level.
Do Vice Presidents of Land Acquisition get a company vehicle?
Usually. A monthly auto allowance or company vehicle is standard at this level in homebuilding, since the role involves constant travel to sites, brokers, and municipalities.
What can push Vice President of Land Acquisition pay above the published range?
Builders entering a new market, turnaround situations with a thin pipeline, multi-market responsibility, and a proven record of sourcing off-market deals and entitlement wins can all justify pay above the range. A leader who delivers entitled lots that become top-performing communities commands the strongest premium.
Is the compensation data current?
Yes. We publish a new edition of our compensation report every year, and this page is updated with it.
Common backgrounds for Vice President of Land Acquisition hires
Most Vice President of Land Acquisition hires come up through land departments: Land Acquisition Manager, Director of Land, or a senior land role at a competing builder. Hiring teams look for candidates who have sourced, underwritten, and closed deals in the same market, since local relationships and submarket knowledge do not transfer easily.
Some candidates cross over from land development, brokerage, or finance roles with deep transaction experience. For candidates mapping a path into the role, the milestones that matter are a record of closed deals, entitlement wins, and leading a land team. Those three experiences are what hiring teams screen for.
Hiring a Vice President of Land Acquisition?
Compensation is only half the hire. We place executive leaders with homebuilders nationwide through our land acquisition recruiting practice, and you can also browse current homebuilding land job openings for relevant opportunities.