Summerlin’s developer sold land to homebuilders last month at higher values than usual in a part of Las Vegas known for expensive dirt.
Howard Hughes Holdings sold 73 acres combined to three builders for $126 million, property records show. The land is located about a mile or so west of the Lake Mead Boulevard-Summerlin Parkway interchange, at the base of the mountains.
The cluster of deals followed Hughes Holdings’ sale of about 12.8 acres in February for $22.4 million to another builder.
Overall, the sales value for each of these four transactions came to $1.7 million per acre or more, with the highest reaching $1.75 million an acre.
Summerlin, the largest master-planned community in Las Vegas, boasts more than 130,000 residents and some of the highest home and land prices in Southern Nevada.
But even by Summerlin standards, the recent deals were pricey — and in general, when builders pay high land values, they sell homes at higher prices, too.
More housing on the way
Hughes Holdings’ real estate business, Howard Hughes Communities, confirmed in a statement that its recent land sales were among the highest per-acre prices it has achieved for tract housing sites in Summerlin.
“The results reflect strong homebuilder demand and our disciplined approach to the timing and pricing of land sales,” the company told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Summerlin spans 22,500 acres along the valley’s western rim. The developer’s namesake — Howard Hughes, the famed business tycoon, aviator and recluse — acquired the land mass in the 1950s.
Hughes Holdings still owned nearly 2,000 acres of residential land in Summerlin by the end of last year. The developer is known for methodically selling parcels, asking select builders to make offers on the plots it releases.
In the deals that closed last month, Pulte Homes acquired 30.4 acres for $52.57 million, with plans for a 71-lot subdivision of single-family houses. KB Home bought 23.1 acres for $40 million, with plans for a 151-lot housing tract, and Tri Pointe Homes picked up 19.6 acres for $33.5 million, with plans for a 74-lot subdivision, according to property records, securities filings and Las Vegas city records.
Meanwhile, Richmond American Homes purchased 12.8 acres for $22.4 million in February, with plans for a 91-lot project.
That plot is southwest of the other recently sold tracts, closer to the Far Hills Avenue-Sky Vista Drive intersection.
John Stater, Las Vegas research manager for commercial real estate brokerage Colliers, said the recent deals were higher than average for Southern Nevada, which, he indicated, was $1.16 million per acre for residential land over the past year.
The key factor is probably location, he said, adding that land prices in Summerlin are “going to be higher than in most other submarkets due to demand.”
‘Builders will pay a premium’
Summerlin has long been among the top-selling spots in the nation for homebuilders, and the land isn’t cheap.
Last year, Texas-based Hughes Holdings sold 412 acres of so-called superpad sites – or tracts for housing developments – in Summerlin for more than $400 million. On average, this equated to around $970,000 per acre.
The sales volume last year was buoyed by a bulk purchase of 240 acres for $100 million.
In 2024, the developer sold around 216 acres of superpad sites in Summerlin for $291 million, or an average of more than $1.3 million per acre, according to a securities filing.
Las Vegas land broker Rick Hildreth attributed the recent high-priced deals to both Southern Nevada’s shrunken availability of residential land and Summerlin’s popularity.
Hildreth, of Land Advisors Organization, said that it’s become increasingly difficult for homebuilders to buy a 20- or even 10-acre plot in the Las Vegas area for new projects, and he indicated that Summerlin is among the few places where they can still pick up bigger tracts of land.
He also noted that Summerlin is a popular place to live, given its parks, trails and other amenities.
“Builders will pay a premium to be up there,” he said.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
