This new housing development in Las Vegas features energy-efficient homes with covered front porches and granite countertops. The homes range from around 1,500 square feet to about 2,500 square feet and can have up to five bedrooms.
But unlike other developments that have sprouted up at record pace over the years as Southern Nevada expanded, Casa Bella is going up in the middle of the Valley, in the shadow of Boulder Station near Boulder Highway and U.S. Highway 95 on the east side.
The 70-lot KB Home project sits on 8 acres that had been vacant until recently. Homes start in the $290,000 range, a relative bargain considering that the median price of an existing home in the Valley was $406,000 in September, according to the Las Vegas Realtors trade group.
“We’re always trying to target affordability,” said Brian Kunec, president of KB’s Las Vegas division. “We’ve gotten feedback from buyers that shows that location doesn’t matter as much as it used to because some people can work from anywhere now.”
Buying a new home near a neighborhood that features older homes, and just a short drive from a busy expressway, might not seem ideal for some, but Kunec said there’s a large market for what Casa Bella has to offer.
About half of the Casa Bella homes—or planned homes—have been sold, Kunec said.
“We’re doing better than we expected at this point with these homes,” Kunec said. “These are homes targeted toward people who have ordinary jobs, people who don’t make a ton of money. As the market has appreciated recently, some people have been priced out. We specifically targeted what we call the ‘east submarket’ because of the affordability. We were able to buy this land at a good price.”
Small developments in places where land is relatively cheap could become more popular around the Valley, though they are still rare.
The process to identify where to invest is tricky for homebuilders, said Nat Hodgson, CEO of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association. There’s only so much land available for residential projects, and water is at a premium in Southern Nevada.
Then there’s the supply chain issues that have caused bottlenecks or soaring prices—or both—for many of the materials used to build homes.
With no relief in sight on the housing demand side, Hodgson and others have long lobbied for the release of additional federal lands in Southern Nevada where new homes could be built.
This year, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., introduced a federal lands bill that would, Hodgson said, allow for an additional 20,000-plus acres of land that could be developed for residential projects.
“We could see more projects [like Casa Bella], but infill can sometimes bring a whole new set of problems with unexpected costs,” Hodgson said. “How far down do you have to go to tie into existing utilities? What is surrounding you? Some design guidelines in places, like Henderson, look a lot like the requirements of a master-planned community. That said, you’re going to see more infill projects, but it might not always end up being cheaper.”
Another new home development on the east side is Story Book Homes’ Sherwood Crossing community, which sits just off Boulder Highway near the intersection of Dodd Street and Nevada Avenue. Those homes start at around $310,000 and are marketed as “affordably priced.” The square footage for the houses ranges from about 1,400 to nearly 1,600 feet.
Andrew Smith, president of Home Builders Research, a Las Vegas-based firm that tracks the homebuilding industry, said land set aside for new buildouts is often geared toward large master-planned communities like Cadence in Henderson, or in other upscale areas like Summerlin.
“Now, more than ever, builders are looking for parcels or assemblages of parcels more on the interior of the Valley,” Smith said.
Though it does focus on many different areas, Kunec said KB has its eye on a number of infill possibilities that fit that bill.
“We have a couple that we’re looking at currently in this Boulder Highway corridor, but there’s nothing solid on those yet,” Kunec said. “A lot of the homebuilders, though not us, have started to target places like Pahrump and Mesquite because you can drive a very affordable price point there. Land is hard to come by in the Valley right now.”
Kunec said many Casa Bella buyers—and those who have expressed interest—are millennial first-time homebuyers.
A millennial is generally considered to be a person who reached young adulthood in the early 2000s. Many are now established in their careers, possibly have young families, and are looking to become homeowners.
“There’s 80 million millennials out there and, oh, by the way, there’s 90 million Generation Z folks, too,” Kunec said. “There’s going to be a sustained demand for housing for years to come. The Spring Valley area is also popular for our first-time homebuyers, but Casa Bella is a convenient spot. You can hop right on Boulder Highway and be on the 515 in a couple of minutes.”
For new detached homes, Kunec pointed out that anything on the market for less than $300,000 would seem to be a bargain in this housing market.
“For new home pricing lately, you’re starting in the mid-$300,000s or higher most of the time,” Kunec said. “We have a huge interest list on these homes.”