Large homebuilder is preparing to open 3 new Las Vegas Valley communities

Jim McDade, the president of KB Home’s Las Vegas division, said they currently have 28 new home communities and three on the way, and believe a strong spring selling season this year is a good sign for things to come.

McDade, who joined KB Home six years ago after running his own homebuilding company, and has now called Las Vegas home for close to a year, spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the industry, the challenges and the opportunities ahead when it comes to all things new home buildings.

Where is the homebuilding market at in 2025 in the Las Vegas Valley and nationally?

We’re still seeing relatively strong demand and sales performance in Las Vegas, and the long-term housing market conditions remain positive. This is supported by an under supply of new and resale homes as well as favorable demographics, solid employment, wage growth and household formations. Although the resale inventory is rising in certain submarkets, it remains well below historically normalized levels, is very limited at our price points, and days on the market are still relatively low.

What challenges or opportunities are their currently in the marketplace? It’s harder than ever for first time buyers to get into the market, why is that?

Life-changing circumstances will continue to drive homeownership in 2025, whether it’s getting married, having a baby, relocating, getting a promotion or retiring. All these things change homeownership needs and will continue.

Additionally, demographics have been and will continue to be a significant factor with younger, first-time buyers like millennials and Gen Zers, who continue to demonstrate a strong desire for homeownership and are KB Home’s target demographic. We actually have new data from an independent, third-party partner who found that most Americans (83 percent) still believe that homeownership is an important milestone.

While affordability continues to be a pain point for homebuyers, we pride ourselves on being the low-cost provider in the Las Vegas market and are always trying to create affordability. Our pricing strategy focuses on offering the best possible price rather than continually increasing incentives. We do so with the continued daily emphasis on maintaining our high customer satisfaction levels, further improving build times and value engineering our homes to lower direct cost.

Additionally, we believe that our focus on personalization provides a way to help serve the need for affordable housing. We give each of our homebuyers a highly personalized experience, where they can make a wide range of choices, including homesite location and structural and design features that enable them to create a new home that reflects how they want to live and what they value, all within their budget.

What type of projects is KB Home currently building or developing within the Las Vegas Valley?

We currently have 28 new-home communities open throughout the greater Las Vegas area and are well positioned in several of the major master plans, including Summerlin, Tule Springs and Inspirada. We offer a wide variety of home styles, from single-family homes to attached townhomes, at affordable price points starting from the $300,000’s.

We are very happy to announce the opening of three new communities in the Valley. In July, we will be opening Landings and Reserves at Caspian Bay in southeast Henderson. This new community is situated just off Boulder Highway, at the corner of Weeks Bay River Road and Equestrian Drive. This 244-homesite neighborhood will include one- and two-story single-family homes that range from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet and offer up to five bedrooms and five baths. Community amenities will include a park, walking trails and shaded picnic areas.

Our Manzano community will open in August and is located at Boulder Highway and Interstate 11, northwest of the city of Henderson and northeast of Harry Reid International Airport. We plan to construct 219 one- and two-story single-family homes that range from 1,100 to 2,400 square feet, with up to five bedrooms and four baths. The community is close to shopping, dining and entertainment and features a planned park, dog park and shade structures.

Coming off our success in Henderson with Inspirada, we will also be opening Meridian early next year. Meridian will feature 940 homesites, with a mix of two- and three-story attached townhomes and single-family homes affordably priced for first-time and first move-up buyers. Additionally, its central location is close to everything Henderson has to offer and is minutes to Interstate. Meridian features a planned on-site park and walking trails.

What does the future of homebuilding look like?

I don’t have a crystal ball, more than anyone else, but homebuyers are now a little more conditioned to the current rates, and we have had a strong spring selling season. To be successful in the future, I believe that homebuilders need to educate buyers on the homebuying process since consumers will always have anxieties. Most come into the process stressed about being able to afford a home, taking on more debt, whether now is a good time to buy or having enough money for a down payment.

We believe that the education we provide, the relationships we build and our approach of providing choice and flexibility creates an emotional connection between our buyers and their personalized homes. Our strategy also focuses on delivering the most compelling value and improving affordability through transparency with our pricing rather than relying on incentives. These factors are real differentiators and have contributed to our leading absorption rates in the industry over many years and have also driven our consistent achievement of the highest customer satisfaction ratings among production homebuilders.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.