Land, like any asset, can go down in value, but it doesn't depreciate in the accounting sense. This is important to businesses, because the depreciation of assets is tax-deductible as a business expense.

Does land ever lose value?

Land can never be depreciated. Since land cannot be depreciated, you need to allocate the original purchase price between land and building. You can use the property tax assessor's values to compute a ratio of the value of the land to the building.

Is land more valuable than house?

While land is the ultimate store of value in real estate, a 3,000-square-foot house on a 0.43 acre lot may not be worth more than the same house on a 0.39 acre lot, even though there is a 10 percent difference in the amount of land.