Vegas luxury new home market remains strong

While new home sales are down 19 percent during the first quarter, closings of luxury homes exceeding $1 million rose 41 percent during the first three months of 2025 as a new Summerlin development chalks up sales and another high-end project is about to commence.

There were 154 closings of $1 million and higher in the first quarter, up from 109 during the first three months of 2024, according to Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

Some 39 of those closings fell between $1 million and $1.1 million, while the most expensive production home went for $10.45 million in MacDonald Highlands. The second highest price was the Blue Heron home for $6.3 million in Roma Hills in Henderson.

Toll Brothers and Pulte Group combined led the way with 76 of the 154 sales, with their new joint project called Ascension in Summerlin between the Summit Club and Mesa Ridge making the difference with 62 closings. There were only two sales in the luxury community during the first half of 2024.

Toll Brothers, which had 43 closings during the first quarter, had every one of those sales in Ascension.

Pulte, which had 33 closings, had 19 of their sales in Ascension where homes go from $1 million to upper $2 million for the builders.

The duo were followed by Lennar, with 35 closings of $1 million and higher.

All other builders had fewer than 10 closings.

Richmond American had eight; Taylor Morrison, seven; Pinnacle Homes, six; Christopher Homes, five; Blue Heron, four; Tri Pointe, four. Other builders had two or fewer closings.

The latest figures come as national homebuilder Taylor Morrison broke ground this month on its Esplanade at Red Rock community in Summerlin that will bring on nearly 400 homes, more than half of which will be $1 million and higher.

The resort-style community will include a 10,000-square-foot resort amenity complete with a restaurant, bar, spa, fitness center, resort pool and golf simulator. There will be a clubhouse, pickleball courts, pet park and event lawn.

Taylor Morrison has more than 30 Esplanade communities across the country and executives said they’re excited to celebrate the brand’s expansion into Las Vegas. Sales are estimated to begin at Esplanade at Red Rock in early 2026.

Esplanade, located along West Lake Mead Boulevard, will offer nearly 400 homes on 88 acres that draw upon modern Palm Springs designs. The homes will range from approximately 1,550 square feet to 3,000 square feet with two to four bedrooms, 2½ to 4½ baths and up to four-car garages.

“The Esplanade lifestyle increasingly resonates with homeowners wanting to build meaningful connections with their neighbors through wellness programs and social activities, so bringing the brand to the highly desirable and well-connected master-planned community of Summerlin was a natural step,” said Cammie Longenecker, national president of Resort Lifestyle Brand for Taylor Morrison.

Longenecker said the community is referred to as a wellness lifestyle with some homes likely to sell for just under $1 million and others over $1 million. Some will exceed $2 million.

“As growing our brand, we saw an opportunity to be able to cater to that consumer that is looking for a lifestyle like they’re on vacation every day,” Longenecker said. “When you are at a resort, you have concierge, amenities and services. This is going to be a boutique (community) and a very well-designed community with Red Rock in the background. A lot of home sites will have long-range city views looking down into the Strip.”

Longenecker said they expect Summerlin residents and those from out of state looking to relocate as part of their buyer pool. It’s not age-restricted but will cater to those wanting one-story homes.

“Think about the Golden Girls in their fifties, and now think of “Sex and the City” in their fifties. People are living differently,” Longenecker said. “Longevity and wellness is a big focus and how to have meaningful connections and also sophisticated concierge-level services.”

The luxury production communities are much in demand in Las Vegas where lots for $1 million-plus homes keep getting developed. High-end custom lots are also dissipating.

The luxury housing market, especially The Summit Club, took center stage at a recent luncheon of the Southern Nevada chapter of Certified Commerical Investment Member, or CCIM.

Stephen Jones, the owner of Merlin Custom Homes, pointed out how in The Summit Club, the uber-luxury resort community in Summerlin, homes are selling in excess of $30 million .

Mark Fine, the former president of Summerlin and the developer of Enclave, which is known as Billionaires Row where Steve Wynn once lived, recalled when Discovery Land was talking about bringing the Summit Club to Las Vegas. He told company executives there’s nothing like that in Southern Nevada and encouraged the Howard Hughes Corp. to deal with the developer.

“I honestly didn’t think they could bring that super high-end product to Las Vegas,” Fine said. “They are all over the world. The bottom line is they made a deal with Howard Hughes on a joint venture. At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, and it’s been an unbelievable success. It’s the biggest success story of all the properties that Discovery has had around the world in terms of how fast the values have increased and how many houses are going up. There’s 170 custom home lots that have pretty much all sold.

“A friend of mine just sold a 2½ acre lot for $20 million. There’s lots in there being proposed for 90,000-square-foot houses. It’s in a different world. There’s another group coming. Call it the billionaire crowd from California, New York and Texas and relocating to Las Vegas. They’re building megamansions and are not restricted based on price. There’s a 12,000-square-foot house that just sold for $35 million. It’s unbelievable.”

Jones said he has three homes under construction in The Summit that range in size from 10,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet. The luxury builder has already finished four homes in The Summit that has set the mark with homes costing $3,000 to $4,000 a square foot.

People who owned a house in The Ridges now have double the price from before the Summit, Fine said.

“When you have that level of what’s going on, it trickles down to everybody,” Jones said. “There’s housing going on below the Summit that if not for The Summit being there people wouldn’t get the value for it. There’s $2 million production homes going on nearby (in Ascension). It’s a great thing for our community because it adds value. It’s something very few communities have. They built a fantastic resort community in a primary home market.

“They have projects around the world and people use them two, three or four weeks a year. This is a primary home resort community with every convenience you can think of. The reality is it’s bringing higher people in, and they are higher-value people. It helps the community beyond anything we thought was possible.”

Fine said the master-planned communities are motivated to do custom-home lots because it helps with the velocity of sales. When that land runs out, people won’t be able to launch custom-home communities because it takes time to develop.

“I don’t see any new golf courses being built here,” Fine said. “I think that custom home communities and new home communities that want to be full range true master plans need to have big amenities, and golf seems to be synonymous with the big amenities. There’s 200 members at The Summit, and 60 play golf. Less than 20 percent of the people at Spanish Trail play golf, but it’s the eye candy that people are looking for. I don’t know of another amenity that would make it interesting. If you are going to do something, you have to be pretty creative.

“There’s a demand for custom homes, and at some point in time, it has to find a way to manifest itself somewhere in the community whether it’s a collective group of people that help initiate it. There’s a demand there, but I don’t know where it will end up.”