Summerlin new home sales on the rise in 3rd quarter

Despite an overall sales dip this year in Summerlin, homebuilders found more buyers in recent months in Las Vegas’ largest master-planned community.

Builders notched 322 net new-home sales in Summerlin in the three months ending Sept. 30, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year, Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. reported Monday.

This year through September, however, homebuilders booked 989 sales in the sprawling community, down 5.4 percent from the same nine-month stretch last year, according to Hughes Corp.

Summerlin, which spans 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim, boasts more than 100,000 residents and some of the highest home and land prices in Southern Nevada.

It’s not alone, though, as Southern Nevada’s broader homebuilding market has seen a bump in sales activity lately amid a dip for the year.

Builders reported 2,500 net sales — newly signed sales contracts minus any cancellations — in Southern Nevada for the third quarter, up 8.5 percent from the same period last year, according to Las Vegas housing tracker Andrew Smith, president of Home Builders Research.

Overall, builders closed around 7,780 sales this year through September, down 2.4 percent from the same period last year, Smith reported.

There can be a lag time of several months between signing a sales contract with a builder and closing the purchase.

Hughes Corp., which owns the Las Vegas Aviators, the team’s ballpark, the open-air Downtown Summerlin mall and thousands of acres of suburban Las Vegas land, disclosed Summerlin’s sales figures as part of its third-quarter earnings report.

The Texas-based developer, which has projects and properties in several states, earned $30 million in profit, up 26 percent from the same period last year.

After weighing a possible sale of the company, Hughes Corp. announced last month that Paul Layne, a regional president, had replaced CEO David Weinreb effective immediately. The company also said it wants to sell about $2 billion in “non-core assets” and to reduce overhead by $45 million to $50 million annually through organizational changes.

The developer said Monday it sold a mall in Utah for $46 million and about 650 acres of land in New Jersey for $40 million.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.