D.R. Horton No. 1 builder in midyear

What a difference one quarter and COVID-19 makes to the midyear rankings for Las Vegas homebuilders.

D.R. Horton, which was No. 3 in new-home net sales after the first three months of 2020, vaulted to No 1 in the marketplace in the six-month rankings released by Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

Texas-based D.R. Horton, which was No. 2 in the 2018 annual rankings and fell to No. 4 in 2019, is riding the wave of Valley Vista in North Las Vegas that was ranked as No. 6 in the nation for sales in master-planned communities.

D.R. Horton had 734 net sales — sales minus cancellations — in the first half of 2020. That’s a 49.8 percent increase over the 490 sales in the first six months of 2019, according to Home Builders Research.

D.R. Horton had 387 sales in the first quarter and 347 during the second quarter. No builder had as small of decline at 10 percent between quarters.

The top seven selling communities for D.R. Horton are all within Valley Vista and overall, the 11 communities that were active for them during the first half of the year in the master plan accounted for 64 percent of their overall net sales, according to Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith.

D.R. Horton’s solid showing comes as the new home market bounces back from a slowdown in the weeks after the pandemic shut down the Las Vegas economy in late March and April.

Lennar Homes, the No. 1 ranked builder in 2019, had the second smallest decline between quarters and finished midyear at No. 2 with 704 sales. Lennar had 386 in the first quarter and 318 during the second quarter.

Lennar’s 704 sales are 19.8 percent below the 878 in the first six months of 2019 when it had the top ranking.

Pulte, which acquired American West Homes in Las Vegas in 2019, ranked No 3 at 689 for the quarter, up 57.3 percent from the first six months of 2019. Pulte had 457 sales in the first quarter and 232 in the second quarter.

KB Home took the biggest hit between quarters after it had 529 sales and was in the top position after the first quarter.

It had 105 sales in the second quarter to bring its midyear total to 634. That’s 18.4 percent fewer than the 777 in the first six months of 2019.

No. 5 on the midyear list is Richmond American Homes with 502 sales, down 22.8 percent from 650 in the first six months of 2019. Richmond had 291 sales in the first quarter and 211 in the second quarter.

Century Communities came in at No. 6 with 411 sales, a 47.3 percent increase over 2019 when it had 279 sales after six months. Century has six more communities active this year, including four product lines out at Craig Ranch where it had 75 total sales, Smith said. Century had 241 sales in the first quarter and 170 in the second.

Beazer Homes was No. 7 with 304 sales, a gain of 18.3 percent over the first six months of 2019 when it had 257 sales. Beazer had 200 sales in the first quarter and 104 in the second.

Pardee Homes was No 8 with 270 sales, three fewer than the first six months of 2019. It had 170 sales in the first quarter and 100 in the second quarter.

Woodside Homes was No. 9 with 165 sales, a 14.9 percent decline from 194 sales in the first six months of 2019. The builder had 104 sales during the first quarter and 61 during the second quarter.

Toll Brothers rounded out the top 10 with 141 sales, down 23.8 percent from 194 in the first six months of 2019. It had 91 sales in the first quarter and 50 in the second quarter.

Arizona-based builder Taylor Morrison, which in February closed a deal with William Lyon Homes and entered the Las Vegas marketplace for the first time, had a No. 11 ranking with 116 sales, down 28.8 percent from 163 in the first six months of 2019. The combined builders had 71 sales in the first quarter and 45 in the second. It was a heck of a time for the builder to enter the marketplace just before the coronavirus closed the economy.

Ricarda Dietsch, the area president of the Mountain region for Taylor Morrison, said they saw a peak in early March before traffic fell with the coronavirus. The trough was in early April with traffic down 80 percent before the recovery began.

Taylor Morrison opened models for single-family homes for sale in Palmer Ranch in North Las Vegas on July 11. There are eight homes with 16 plans priced from $295,900 to $414,900 with multigenerational options and one and two stories, including one with up to six bedrooms.

Taylor Morrison is expanding their presence in Summerlin after opening Affinity at Summerlin Centre in 2017 and Jade Ridge in The Cliffs in January 2019.

Both are in the new Redpoint Square development in Summerlin. The builder plans to open Savannah in the fall with a single-story home starting in the mid-$500,000s. Its Cascades community that opens in the fall will have homes starting in the high $300,000s.

Taylor Morrison also has a presence in Lake Las Vegas in its communities Lago Vista, which has six homes remaining, and The Peaks.

New home net sales were up 21 percent after the first quarter but as seen by the builder breakdown ended the first six months down 5 percent compared to the first six months of 2019. Closings were up 4 percent after the first quarter but ended the first six months down 4 percent, Smith said.

The median price fell 4 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019 and finished 4 percent down by the end of June.

Traffic was up 5 percent after the first quarter but finished midyear down 14 percent.

Builders sharply reduced permits they took out with local governments after they were up 15 percent during the first quarter. Permits fell 11 percent after the midyear numbers came in, Smith said.

Buyer cancellations were up 6 percent after the first quarter but finished the first six months 41 percent higher than 2019.

The top five net sales producers were also the top five builders in terms of overall cancellations in the first half, all reporting 125 or more over the first six months of 2020. KB Home and Pulte Group again have the highest totals by a wide margin with 231 and 227 each, over 34 percent more than Lennar, which reported 148, Smith said.