Retirees: No stairs, please

Real estate experts say retirees are driving a heated demand for more Las Vegas single-story homes.

“Anybody over 50 is eventually going to get tired of climbing stairs unless you have an elevator,” said Dennis Smith of Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

He said nearly every Las Vegas builder offers them despite higher land costs because boomers want them and will pay more for them. The price-per-foot is typically higher for a single-story home, which requires a bigger lot, than one with two levels. Smith said a subdivision with a single-story home priced at $200 per square foot will typically offer a two-story home for $140 per square foot.

“It can vary that much,” he said.

Las Vegas has been fond of the single-story residence for decades. Still, it had a big love affair with two- story floor plans in the boom years. Today, more and more retirees are flocking to the warm desert valley from the East Coast and other colder climes. They may often have empty nests, are downsizing their lifestyles and have an aversion to stairs.

According to the 2016 United Van Lines National Movers Study, 31.58 percent of all those moving to Nevada do so to retire. That’s compared to 14.29 percent of those leaving the state to retire somewhere else. The report showed Nevada was No. 7 among U.S. states with the most new residents. Oregon was No. 1.

Applied Analysis reported 61,102 drivers last year traded an out-of-state driver’s license for a Silver State plate in Clark County.

“The aging boomer population is driving relocation from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and South, as more and more people retire to warmer regions,” Michael Stoll, economist, professor and chair of the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, in a statement on the United Van Lines website, unitedvanlines.com.

Midcentury is in again

In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, a lot of midcentury homes were built in Las Vegas. Pardee is cashing in on that nostalgic factor with its new homes designed to honor this Las Vegas architecture in its new collection in Escala, a neighborhood in Inspirada, a Henderson master-planned community. The homes are about 3,000 square feet and priced around $500,000. The builder also offers single-story options for its two-story models.

“Midcentury modern is part of the Las Vegas architecture history,” said Klif Andrews, Pardee’s division president for Las Vegas. “It’s celebrating that 1950s kitschy style. It plays to everyone.”

Andrews noticed more of a demand from retirees for single-story homes about two years ago.

The company offers several single-story homes throughout the valley. Andrews said the company is working on offering more affordable single-story homes in the coming years.

“Buyers prefer single-stories more now than ever,” he said.

Builders work on affordable options

Century Communities is building single-family homes in Skye Canyon, a new Las Vegas master-planned community in the northwest valley.

“Single-story homes have always been popular, especially lately,” said Melissa Fama-Flis marketing director for Century Communities. “We have just had overwhelming feedback from all of our home shoppers that what they want is a single-story home. They are not wanting to climb stairs.”

The demand was so strong the builder went back to a Mountain’s Edge neighborhood it opened in October and added a single-story design.

The homes start at 1,600 to 2,500 square feet.

Prices range $250,000 to $450,000 for larger homes in the Estates neighborhood in Rhodes Ranch, a master-planned community in the southwest valley.

She said her company sees a lot of California empty-nesters who are downsizing and want something smaller, less than 2,000 square feet. It, too has designs for smaller, more-affordable single-story homes on the drawing board.

Brenton Cripe, regional marketing manager for Beazer Homes, said this demographic wants more options, too.

The builder has designed a “single-and-a-half” or “pop-up” home, which is a single-story residence with a loft in its new collection at Inspirada. The homes measure 2,000 to 2,500 square feet and start at about $342,000.

He said boomers, like millennials (another group highly studied by homebuilders), want options and flexible designs. Some plans offer extra space for offices, bedrooms and more garage space.

“They want choices,” Cripe said.