A community in Aubrey was the top-selling residential development in the state in 2022.
The Silverado master-planned community, built by homebuilder D.R. Horton, sold 820 homes in 2022 — the most in the state, according to the Dallas Business Journal, and nearly double the 411 sold in 2021.
Located in Denton County, Silverado was the best-selling community in Texas and came in at sixth in the country for new home sales, according to RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. Housing in the community starts at $289,990 and ranges from 1,266 to 3,382 square feet.
Florida and Texas have consistently led recent new home sale rankings. Last year, Florida represented 46% of sales among ranked communities while Texas had 30%.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area featured three communities on the top 50 list. Wildcat Ranch in Crandall sold 462 new homes last year. Ranked 28th nationwide, the community is located in Kaufman County, which is the fastest-growing county in the nation, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Union Park sold 453 homes in 2022, coming in at 31st in the country.
The Villages, a Florida retirement community, retained its title as the top-selling community in the nation, with 3,923 sales in 2022. Florida also held the second and third spots on the list. Houston was the top-selling metropolitan area on the list, with 13 of its communities ranked.
New home sales continue to decline in the 50 top-selling communities, falling by 20% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Rising interest rates and inflation in the second half of the year had a notable impact on visitor traffic and new home sales, according to RCLCO Real Estate Consulting’s report.
In the second half of 2022, new home sales were down 13% compared to the first half, impacted by mortgage rates that surpassed 7% in October, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Developers of master-planned communities are still positive about the industry’s outlook despite its current headwinds.
“Master-planned communities have historically increased their overall market share in times of economic turmoil as consumers perceive that the quality of master-planned communities can provide a level of insulation from broader market trends,” said RCLCO principal Karl Pischke.
Still, it is taking longer for new homes in DFW to sell, according to a report from HomesUSA. The three-month average for days on the market increased to 68.6 days, up from 57.7 days in October.
Single-family building permits were down significantly in the second half of 2022, indicating that housing starts (the term real estate investors use to measure the start of construction on a new residential housing unit) will be down sharply in 2023, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Indeed, it is incredibly difficult to build in Dallas as a result of the City’s backlogged permitting process, overseen by City Manager T.C. Broadnax.
In the first 11 months of 2022, permits to build new homes were also down elsewhere in the metroplex; they fell 31% in Frisco, 37% in Celina, and 25% in McKinney compared to the same period in 2021.
Census data shows the average cost of a new home nationwide in November was $543,600.
