The luxury new home production market has been buoyed as a new community named Ascension ramps up in Summerlin while elsewhere in the west valley, master plan lot sales are underway for a new high-end mountainside custom-home development.
Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research reported 535 sales of $1 million and higher in 2024, down from 567 in 2023 and 544 in 2022. Going back to 2017, sales had been increasing on a yearly basis. This marks the first decline. There were 96 closings in 2016 followed by 129 in 2017, 241 in 2018 and 247 in 2019. By 2020 during the pandemic the number rose to 313 followed by 432 in 2021.
The decline in new home sales was visible in the first half of 2024 when closings were down 15 percent from 267 from January to June 2023 to 227 last year. There were 308 closings in the second half of 2024, up from 300 in the second half of 2023 with the ramping up of Ascension prompting the turnaround, according to Home Builders Research.
That decline in luxury new home construction comes as the overall new-home market for all price points combined ran 11 percent higher in terms of closings over 2023.
Market observers said the luxury new home closings in the first half of 2024 was a reflection of not having enough luxury production homes for sale with limited land available.
Toll Brothers and the Pulte Group were the dominant players in the marketplace with 146 closings and 107 closings, respectively, in 2024. Those builders’ numbers have been boosted by Ascension between The Summit Club and Mesa Ridge. Toll Brothers had two sales in the first half of 2024 for the community. Toll Brothers finished 2024 with 32 closings in its three Ascension communities while Pulte had 47. The prices range from the upper $1 millions to just over $3 million for Toll Brothers’ homes and in the $1 and $2 millions for Pulte’s two communities in Ascension.
Following Toll Brothers and Pulte, the other top luxury builders in 2024 with their closings included Lennar, 85; Christopher Homes, 36; Pinnacle Homes, 28; Tri Pointe Homes, 24; Taylor Morrison, 23; Richmond American Homes, 20; Blue Heron, 18; Century Communities, 17; and Shea Homes, seven. Other builders had three or fewer production homes of $1 million and higher.
Meanwhile, Blue Heron, which is also a custom homebuilder, had the two highest-priced production homes — $10.5 million in MacDonald Highlands in Henderson and $8.37 million in Ascaya in Henderson.
Ascaya had the highest average luxury production home price at $6.58 million followed by $5.01 million in Southern Highlands and $3.73 million in MacDonald Highlands, according to Home Builders Research.
Custom homes, those in which the lot owner hires a builder in high-end developments, aren’t tracked but those high-end builders doing those homes are keeping busy with lots left to build in Ascaya in Henderson and The Summit Club in Summerlin and the new upscale development coming to the market in Summerlin.
Custom home market
Real Estate Millions reported in September that the luxury new-home community was coming to the marketplace with 167 lots offered by Summerlin developer Howard Hughes at prices at $4 million on the low end. It has been named Astra at La Madre Peaks with 167 mountainside homesites over 170 acres. In a Feb. 27 Las Vegas Review-Journal article, it was reported a handful of lot sales have been recorded so far.
“Astra at La Madre Peaks represents the most elite custom homesite neighborhood in Summerlin developed by Howard Hughes to date,” Elle Gaensslen, director of sales for the developer, said in a written statement. “The sales process is conducted in phases with a select group of qualified buyers, ensuring a thoughtful and personalized sales experience for this unique opportunity.”
IS Luxury owner and real estate broker Ivan Sher said the addition of new luxury development in Astra is needed because options are running out in the west valley. He said he’s had clients purchase lots and others in negotiations to buy there.
“I think they’re going to do well,” Sher said. “They’re pitching themselves to be in between a higher-end version of The Ridges and not quite The Summit. That’s their demographic. The lots are more expensive than people thought they would be, but they’re selling. It’s $4 million on up and some beyond $10 million. I think they will get it because Howard Hughes has been so successful at custom-home communities, and I think this is the next and final extension of it. People looking for that next place to go to don’t want to spend what’s in The Summit. There’s no land left in The Ridges, and The Summit lots are going for $10-million plus.”
Actor Mark Wahlberg recently sold a 2.5-acre parcel in The Summit Club for $17.25 million. He bought the land in 2022 for $15.6 million, according to public records.
In the east valley, Ascaya and Lake Las Vegas have available lots and production homes while MacDonald Highlands has a limited number left.
Kristen Routh-Silberman, a Realtor with Douglas Elliman of Las Vegas and a sales representative for MacDonald Highlands, said the hillside community has 15 lots left for sale while builders of semi-custom homes are seeing their inventory get gobbled up. She attributes the decline in production luxury sales to a lack of lots in the valley.
“We’re running out of inventory,” Routh-Silberman said. “I was just out at Lake Las Vegas, and it looks like it has a lot of lots. The Richard Luke Collection at MacDonald Highland has sold out. Blue Heron is 95 percent sold out here, and Christopher Homes has like 40 left to go.”
There’s opportunities for new production luxury inventory with Lennar doing a project at Queensridge while Lennar and Richmond American are doing luxury projects near Stonebridge, Routh-Silberman said.
“We’re running out of cool spots,” Routh-Silberman said.
Scott Acton, CEO of Forte Speciality Contractors, said they’re keeping busy on the custom home side of the business with a strong luxury market. Forte said they have six homes under construction, two in The Ridges and four at The Summit Club with the most expensive homes costing $40 million.
“We have a backlog through 2027,” Acton said. “There are still a lot of people moving from California.”
Blue Heron founder Tyler Jones said concerns about the election slowed decision-making among wealthy buyers played out as the builder had a strong December and good start to 2025.
“It’s been a nice turn of events since post-November,” Jones said. “The first part of last year was really good and Q3 and all the way into December was very slow for (custom homebuilding and production homebuilding.”
Jones said the concerns over land constraints probably contributed some but that’s more of a problem for 2026 and beyond than it was in 2024 for the luxury segment.
“The high-end custom is very active right now, and a lot of people are looking to move forward on some properties,” Jones said. “People are concerned about price increases due to tariffs so we see some urgency to get started as quickly as possible.”
