HOUSTON — (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – Houston-area master planned communities led the nation in new home sales in a strong mid-year report showing brisk home buying activity despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to RCLCO Real Estate Advisors.
Ten Houston area master planned communities placed in the RCLCO’s Top 50 list of the leading new home sales, according to RCLCO’s midyear report.
Houston’s 10 communities accounting for 2,853 sales through the first half of the year. In second place was Las Vegas with 2,028 new home sales.
Houston Lead Nation in Home Sales in MPCs. Houston’s tops sellers are:
- 10, Bridgeland, in Cypress. Developer: Howard Hughes Corp. Sold 425 homes, up 21% from 351 in 2019.
- 12, Balmoral, Houston. Developer: Land Tejas. Sold 409 homes, up 143% from 168 in 2019.
- 16, Tamarron, Katy. Developer, D.R. Horton. Sold 327 homes, up 99% from 164 in 2019.
- 23, Sienna, Missouri City. Developer, Johnson Developers/Toll Brothers. Sold 298, up 6% from 281 in 2019.
- 29, Sierra Vista/Sterling Lakes, Arcola. Developer: Land Tejas. Sold 261 homes, up 67% from 156 in 2019.
- 37, Harmony, Spring. Developer: Land Tejas/Johnson Development. Sold 235 homes, down 19% from 167 in 2019.
- 39, Cross Creek Ranch, Fulshear. Developer: Johnson Development Corp. Sold 230 homes, down 12% from 262 in 2019.
- 42, Elyson, Katy. Developer: Newland Communities. Sold 220 homes, up 7% from 206 in 2019.
- 43, Harvest Green, Richmond. Developer: Johnson Development Corp. Sold 225, up 20% from 187 in 2019.
- 45, Lago Mar, Texas City. Developer: Land Tejas. Sold 216 houses, up 41% from 153 in 2019.
As mortgage rates have drifted lower this year, closer to 3 percent on 30-year mortgages, buyers have been motivated to shift into home buying mode.
Dallas placed six MPCs in the top 50: No. 28, Pecan Square, Northlake, Texas; No. 30. Union Park, Addison, Texas; No. 32, Wood Creek, Fate, Texas; No. 34 (tie), Silverado, Aubrey, Texas; No. 41, Viridian, Arlington, Texas and No. 48, Trinity Falls, McKinney, Texas.
The three MPCs in Austin that placed in the top 50 are: No. 16 (tie) Sunfield, Buda, Texas; No. 24, Easton Park, Austin and Santa Rita Ranch, Liberty Hill, Texas.
Placing in the top 50 in San Antonio was No. 36, Valley Ranch in San Antonio.
Florida scored a hat trick for taking first, second and third place in the top 50. The Villages retiree-focused community with 1,000 new home sales at midyear, once again claimed the top spot in RCLCO’s ranking, along with two other Florida communities that round out the top three. Sarasota, Florida’s Lakewood Ranch claimed the number two spot overall, and is the top-selling multi-generational community ahead of its pace this time last year by 2%.
Venice, Florida’s Wellen Park (formerly West Villages) increased its 2019 mid-year new home sales pace by 1%, coming in third overall.
“Total new home sales among [MPC] communities tracked in both our 2019 mid-year survey and 2020 mid-year survey are up over 16%, despite the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.,” said Karl Pischke, vice president, and Gregg Logan, managing director of RCLCO Real Estate Advisors.
“The 50 top-selling MPCs” in the country sold almost 7% more homes than the communities that made up last year’s Top 50 list,” said the authors, pointing out that “the communities that comprise the Top 50 change from year to year.”
And while Florida nailed the first three places on the list, Texas was no slouch. The Lone Star State placed 20 metropolitan areas into the top 50 – including 10 in and around Houston.
RCLCO’s advisory report for mid-year 2020 says: “Texas and Florida combined account for 61% of total sales among the 50 top-selling communities. Texas leads all other states in terms of total MPCs represented on the list with 20 MPCs among the ranks of this mid-year’s top-sellers, up from 11 this time last year.”
RCLCO had kind words for the high-performing states. “Texas is experiencing significant migration from high tax states such as California. Florida continues to dominate the very top of the list, (The Villages, Lakewood Ranch and Wellen Park). Outstanding performances from Daybreak in the Salt Lake City MSA and Cane Bay Plantation in Charleston, S.C., puts a spotlight on those markets.”.
The report’s authors summarized 2020 this way: “It began as a strong year for new home sales across all categories, with sales up almost 22% in January compared to a year earlier. By March, that pace had slowed, but data from the US Census through the end of the first quarter still showed a 4% increase over the same time period last year.”
“Consumer fears along with state and local stay-at-home orders and quarantine measures took a toll on physical traffic to sales offices in March and early April, causing sales to fall substantially at most MPC’s and in the market overall. But after dropping dramatically in late March and early April, sales in the last two weeks of April rebounded and the trend continued into May and June,” RCLCO reported.
A master-planned community is defined as a large-scale residential neighborhood with a number of recreational and community amenities such as golf courses, tennis courts, lakes, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and even stores and restaurants.
July 15, 2020 Realty News Report Copyright 2020
File: Houston Leads Nation in New Home Sales. Image: Bridgeland – OJB
Correction: Bridgeland reported 425 sales, up 21% from 2019. An earlier version was not correct.
