Bulk deal helps Summerlin developer reverse slide in land sales
Summerlin’s developer last year reversed a slide in land sales, thanks to a homebuilder’s bigger-than-usual purchase.
But the bulk deal also pulled down average prices in the sprawling Las Vegas community for the first time in years.
The Howard Hughes Corp. in 2016 sold about 232 acres of “superpad” residential sites in Summerlin – big, undeveloped tracts that comprised almost all of its land sales there last year.
The tally was up 30 percent from 2015, though Howard Hughes sold the parcels for an average of $418,000 per acre last year, down 19.5 percent.
The seesaw can be attributed to a bulk purchase by Pulte Homes: the builder in March scooped up 147 acres for $40 million – around $272,100 per acre – for a development at Summerlin’s northern tip.
Stretched along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley, Summerlin has about 107,000 residents, or 5 percent of Clark County. It boasts some of the highest home prices in Southern Nevada and, compared to other master-planned communities, one of the biggest tallies of new-home sales in the country last year.
Measured by acreage, sales of superpad sites rose in 2016 after falling for two consecutive years. But the average price per acre dropped after climbing for three straight years, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dallas-based Howard Hughes recently released the 2016 numbers as part of its annual report, which also gave updates on the once-mothballed retail and office hub Downtown Summerlin; a new, luxury residential project called The Summit; and how much land can still be sold in Las Vegas’ largest master-planned community.
CUSTOM LOTS
Howard Hughes sold 7.4 acres of custom-home sites in Summerlin for about $13.9 million last year, up from 5.8 acres at $8.6 million in 2015. The average price per acre rose 26 percent to almost $1.9 million, which means wealthy homeowners are writing even heftier checks for land before they start building their customized house.
DOWNTOWN SUMMERLIN
Covering 106 acres at Sahara Avenue and the 215 Beltway, Downtown Summerlin opened in fall 2014 after sitting for years as a partially built steel skeleton, having been abandoned by former developer General Growth Properties when the economy tanked.
The property’s retail space, not including anchor stores, was 87 percent leased by the end of 2016, and its nine-story office tower, called One Summerlin, was 68 percent leased.
THE SUMMIT
A joint venture between Howard Hughes and Scottsdale, Arizona-based Discovery Land Co., The Summit is slated to have about 260 homes and an 18-hole golf course. Site work at the 555-acre project began in 2015.
Sales of home sites have been brisk and lucrative: 60 custom lots sold last year for $185 million combined, and 11 others were under contract for $41.5 million as of Dec. 31.
The golf course is expected to open this month in the community off Town Center Drive between Tropicana Avenue and Flamingo Road.
WHAT’S LEFT TO BUILD?
Summerlin started taking shape in the early 1990s and covers 22,500 acres, but its development is far from over.
Howard Hughes says the population will eventually top 200,000 – about double its current total – and that it will finish the community in 2039.
Summerlin had 3,778 acres of residential land that could still be purchased as of Dec. 31, as well as 826 acres of commercial land.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
