New 55-and-over community taking shape in Summerlin

A new 55-and-older community is taking shape in Summerlin amid Las Vegas’ housing frenzy, and its prices are not cheap.

Lennar Corp., one of the biggest homebuilders in the nation, has opened eight model homes at Heritage at Stonebridge and construction is underway on about 20 houses, according to spokesman Aaron Curtiss.

The guard-gated community with rock-lined retaining walls and terraced lots is slated to feature 421 homesites, RV-garage styles, a clubhouse, two pools, and other outdoor recreational facilities, he said.

Southern Nevada has long been a popular place for retirees, given its near year-round sunshine, relatively affordable housing costs, lack of state income taxes, and ample casinos and golf. People from more expensive cities can sell a house, buy one here for less and sock away the difference.

Lennar’s prices in Heritage, off Crossbridge Drive near Sky Vista Drive, exceed the typical sales price of a newly built house in the valley. Still, the builder expects the homes to appeal to locals and to buyers from other regions, Curtiss said.

Its prices currently range from just under $450,000 to nearly $817,000, according to the developer’s website. By comparison, the median sales price of newly built single-family homes in Southern Nevada in July was $440,106, an all-time high, Home Builders Research reported.

Andrew Smith, president of the Las Vegas-based research firm, pointed out that other 55-and-older communities in the valley have homes priced in the $600,000- and $700,000-range.

He agreed with the notion that people from, say, California could afford Heritage, especially after selling their house, though he also figures “a decent amount” of locals would be drawn to the project.

Lennar’s project spans more than 100 acres and has been in the works since before the pandemic hit and a homebuying binge swept across Southern Nevada and the rest of the country.

The Miami-based homebuilder bought the site from Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp. in December 2019 for $63 million and, Lennar previously said, broke ground in January 2020.

Within months, the coronavirus outbreak upended daily life, sparking huge job losses in casino-heavy Las Vegas and plenty of turbulence in the housing market after much of the economy shut down.

The housing market regained its footing and then accelerated to its most frenzied pace in years with rapid sales and record-high prices, thanks largely to rock-bottom mortgage rates.

In Southern Nevada, people have flooded houses with offers and routinely paid over the asking price, and homebuilders have put buyers on waiting lists, regularly raised prices, taken bids for lots and in some cases even drawn names to determine who gets to buy a place.

Buyers have been plenty active in Southern Nevada’s 55-and-over communities, snapping up 1,686 homes in such outposts this year through August, up roughly 33 percent from the same stretch in 2020, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls data from its resale-heavy listing service.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.