April sets record for 2024 new home sales

The Las Vegas new-home market recorded its best month of the year for the number of net sales per week as buyers continue to purchase, especially attached products, despite elevated mortgage rates.

Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research reported that in April the valley and surrounding communities had 268 net sales per week — sales minus cancellations. That beats the 264 in January, 261 in February and 263 in March.

“Another positive sign for the new-home segment is the decreasing cancellation percentage we have seen since the start of 2023,” Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith said. “Typically, a monthly cancellation rate for our market sits in the mid- to high teens. We saw that spike to nearly 50 percent at the onset of the pandemic. We saw another spike in the second half of 2022 as rising mortgage rates greatly affected the market. Over the past year we have seen this slowly fall, and April 2024 gave us the first sub-10 percent monthly cancellation rate since January 2022.”

Smith said that new-home sales have remained strong despite average 30-year mortgage rates reaching their latest peak during the first week of May before dropping since that point. The rate is hovering around 7 percent.

Market leader Lennar was April’s top-selling builder with 201 net sales, Smith said. The builder’s top-selling projects included Aria, located in the Sunstone master plan in the northwest valley, with 17 net sales, and Highpoint at Black Mountain Ranch in Henderson with 14.

Smith said the top-selling single-family home community for the month was Trilogy Sunstone by Shea Homes, which opened in October 2021. It had 20 net sales in April, more than double the average since opening and the community’s all-time best month.

Las Vegas builders opened two new product lines in April, bringing more than 250 lots into the market, Smith said. Woodside Homes opened Lyra, their latest offering in the Sunstone master-planned community. It offers three two-story plans averaging 3,164 square feet and an average base asking price of $598,333.

The second was Quail Crossings from Harmony Homes, its newest duplex town home community in the Cadence master plan in Henderson. It features four two-story plans averaging 1,447 square feet at $382,740.

Smith said that by the end of April attached product types accounted for just over 19 percent of active new-home communities in Southern Nevada. Demand for more affordable attached products remains strong, Smith said. That segment closed 222 units, 28 percent higher than in April 2023. The 2024 total of 991 is 44 percent higher than 2023 through April. Market share for attached new-home products in April was 23 percent, slightly below the 2023 and 2024 average of 25 percent, Smith said.

There were 729 detached single-family home closings in April, 10 percent more than a year ago. The 2024 total sits at 2,893, also 10 percent higher than 2023 through April, Smith said.

A rebound in the existing-home market — resale closing are up 19 percent in April — has cut into the share of the new-home market in terms of closing, Smith said. In April, it dipped to 20.5 percent, the lowest share since June 2022. Thus far, the market share of new homes has dropped over 3 percent from the 2023 average, he added.

“With the resale segment showing some renewed signs of life, although still facing major uncertainty, it will be interesting to track the performance of new homes going forward as the overall housing market continues to adapt to the current landscape of the industry,” Smith said.

Builders continue to be active by taking out 1,206 permits in April, 31 percent higher than April 2023. The 2024 total of 4,727 is also a 31 percent year-to-year increase from 2023 through April, Smith said.

The median new home closing price for all product types was $490,000 in April, a 4 percent increase from April 2023, Smith said. The median new home closing price for single family detached products was $522,536, up 5 percent from April 2023. For attached product types, the April 2024 new home median closing price was $387,351, 10 percent higher than April 2023, Smith said.

Builder land acquisitions in April 2024 “were very minimal” with just over 17 acres of undeveloped land added to portfolios, Smith said.

KB Home added the largest piece at 13 acres in the southwest valley while local companies Summit Homes and Signature Homes each picked up just over 2 acres zoned for larger lots, he said.