Las Vegas homebuilders record best year since 2006

KB Home took the top honors in 2021 as the No. 1 new homebuilder in Southern Nevada as builders recorded their best year since 2006. KB, which held the top spot in 2020 as well, sold 2,158 homes in 2021, a 36 percent increase over the 1,586 sales in 2020, according to Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

Builders sold 12,902 homes in 2021 across 59 communities, a 17 percent increase over the 12,596 in 2020. That’s still well below the 20,000 in 2006. The top 11 builders sold 11,891 homes in 2021, comprising 92.1 percent of the total.

“Of the biggest national builders that we have in the market, KB is the one that focuses the most on the lower end of the price spectrum,” said Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith. “Lennar, Pulte, D.R. Horton and Richmond American have products that go up into the $1 million-range or close. It’s just a sign of a different strategy. They have the most communities active. Most of them are either town homes or 35-foot-wide lots, or 45-foot-wide lots, which is sort of a middle-range average size. They are focusing on density and volumes while the other guys have a whole spectrum of products with up to half-acre lots and $1 million price tags.”

Coming in at No. 2 on the builder ranking list was Lennar with 1,855 sales in 2021, a 22.6 percent increase over the 1,512 in 2020.

“They added a little more attached product, which is good for an increase in volume,” Smith said. “They opened their new 55-and-older community in Summerlin called Heritage at Stonebridge. Both those segments — if you look at the top 10 subdivisions — for a while now, are usually eight (of the top 10) are either attached or 55 and older. Their Heritage in Cadence (in Henderson the No. 3 subdivision in the valley) is also 55 and older and has been doing well since it started.”

Pulte ranked No. 3 with 1,477 sales, a 7.5 percent increase over the 1,373 in 2020.

D.R. Horton ranked No. 4 with 1,235 sales in 2021. That’s a 17.1 percent decrease over 1,490 sales in 2020. Smith said the decrease is a timing issue of available lots. The company’s Valley Vista project in North Las Vegas in 2020 outsold Summerlin in one quarter, he said.

“It was selling so well that they weren’t able to replace the lots quickly enough to keep up to that pace,” Smith said. “That is changing. They have some big things going on right now.”

Richmond American came in at No. 5 with 1,074 sales, a 7.8 percent decline from the 1,166 sales in 2020.

Century Communities was No. 6 with 904 sales in 2021, a 1.2 percent decline from 915 in 2020.

Smith said those builders with small declines are because sales were so strong that they couldn’t replace lots fast enough.

Tri Pointe Homes was No. 7 with 708 sales, a 33.3 percent increase over the 531 in 2020.

“They have been aggressive in buying more land,” Smith said. “They have expanded their presence in Inspirada (in Henderson). Their larger piece off Cactus (Avenue) and Decatur (Boulevard) area has been good for them, and they have a variety of products there. It’s town homes up to over $500,000 detached homes.”

Toll Brothers came in No. 8 with 664 sales, including 61 since it took over Storybook Homes in August. That’s 75.1 percent higher than the 379 in 2020.

“The Storybook is a lower-priced product so you’re going to higher volume there,” Smith said. “That helped diversify their offerings in the valley. There’s so much talk about the luxury market where they’re at normally (as one of the leaders). They have a big foothold in Summerlin and the luxury market there.”

Touchstone Living was a new addition to the top 10, coming in at No. 9 with 642 sales. That’s more than triple the 206 sales in 2020. Touchstone was aided by having the top-selling subdivision in its Watercolor by Touchstone Living with 284 sales. It includes town homes, duplexes and some single-family homes with a starting price in the mid-$200,000s. Its town home project, Mosaic, was No. 2 ranked subdivision with 278 sales.

“They’ve now fully transitioned from selling $750,000 and up detached homes, and they made the decision to focus on attached products,” Smith said. “They started with Mosaic on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard, and this past year they opened Watercolor.”

Beazer Homes ranked No. 10 with 603 sales, a 9.8 percent decline from 669 sales in 2020.

Taylor Morrison ranked No. 11 with 565 sales, more than doubling the 261 sales in 2020.

“They made a big purchase a couple of years ago with Palmer Ranch, a large piece in North Las Vegas,” Smith said. “They had a community and the lots to sell that amount.”

Woodside Homes fell outside the top 10 in 2021. It had 378 sales, just below the 386 sales in 2020.

Smith said builders opened 123 new communities in 2021, which brought just under 13,000 lots into the market. Those new projects reported just under 4,000 net sales, he said.

North Las Vegas held the top spot with the most sales at 25 percent of the marketplace, but that’s down from 27% in 2020. The southwest valley rose 1 percentage point to 24 percent. The northwest valley rose 1 percentage point to 21 percent. Henderson remained constant at 20 percent. The south valley rose 1 percentage point to 4 percent, while the east valley remained at 2 percent.

Rising prices in the new-home market changed the pricing segments. The median price for single-family homes rose $22.9 percent to $479,335. For attached products, the median price rose 16.7 percent to $336,990.

For homes priced between $200,000 and $299,999, the percentage fell from 8.1 percent in 2020 to 2.3 percent in 2021.

In the $300,000 to $399,999 segment, the percentage declined from 46.7 percent in 2020 to 36.3 percent in 2021.

In the $400,000 to $499,999 price point, the percentage rose from 23 percent in 2020 to 36.3 percent in 2021.

In the $500,000 to $749,999 category, the percentage rose from 15.1 percent in 2020 to 19.1 percent in 2021.

For those homes priced $750,000 and above, the percentage decreased from 6.1 percent in 2020 to 5.6 percent in 2021.