What two new-construction price cuts in Summerlin West say about the luxury market right now

While I was writing a post about Summerlin’s luxury market, my phone buzzed.

It was the sales agent at KB Home’s Cloudbreak Ridge, in La Madre Peaks. That’s Summerlin’s newest village, out in Summerlin West.

Two single story homes there had just dropped their prices. And they’re the same two homes I walked you through on camera just a few weeks ago. You can watch that tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N9mVMesmJE

One went from $923,000 to $870,000. That’s $53,000 off.

The other went from $885,000 to $830,000. That’s $55,000 off.

Both cuts are about six percent, on brand new construction, in one of the most in-demand parts of Summerlin.

That’s not a headline or a report. That’s the market moving in real time.

Why these two homes tell the story

Look at what these homes are.

Cloudbreak Ridge is a relatively new community in La Madre Peaks, and it’s still early on. These are two comfortably sized single story homes, brand new, in Summerlin West, priced under a million dollars.

That’s one of the most sought-after combinations in this valley. Single story. Summerlin. New. Under a million.

In a different market, homes like these wouldn’t be sitting. They’d be spoken for at dirt.

Instead, they’re getting price cuts.

That’s not a problem with the homes or the community. It’s what happens when rates are high, buyers are cautious, and they have a lot of options to choose from.

And it’s not a one-off

If this were just one builder in one community, I’d call it a blip. But it lines up with a report that dropped just yesterday.

On September 23, the Las Vegas Review-Journal covered a new Homes.com report on the valley’s biggest home sales. Three of the five most expensive publicly marketed sales in the valley in July were in Summerlin, led by a $7.7 million estate in The Ridges.

All five of those homes sold below their original asking price. The discounts ran from about 3 percent to 16 percent.

On a $7 million home, 16 percent is more than a million dollars.

So from the $800,000s all the way up past $7 million, the same thing is happening in Summerlin. Homes are selling. Just not at the prices sellers first put on them.

Why this is happening in Summerlin

It’s not that people stopped wanting to live here. They clearly haven’t. The biggest sales in the valley are still happening in this part of town.

It’s supply.

The analyst quoted in the report pointed out that Summerlin has more inventory than any other neighborhood in the valley, by a wide margin, and a lot of it is new construction built in the last few years. When demand is strong but buyers have a deep bench of options, they get to be picky. They negotiate. And homes priced for last year’s market sit until they come down.

There’s also more luxury product than ever. According to Realtor.com data cited in the report, a home needed to sell for about $753,000 to land in the top 10 percent of sales in December 2019. By May of this year, that number was about $1.2 million. Builders have leaned hard into bigger, higher-end homes, and Summerlin West is where you can see it most.

What this means if you’re selling in Summerlin

A buyer can now walk into a brand new single story home in Summerlin West for $55,000 less than it was a few weeks ago. That’s your competition, not the house down the street.

A few things I’d tell any Summerlin seller right now.

Price to what closed, not to what’s listed. Active listings are your competition, not your comps.

Know what the builders near you are offering this week, not last month. As you just saw, it can change overnight.

Get the price right at launch. The homes that sold at a 16 percent discount rarely got there in one step. They usually sat, cut, and cut again. Pricing right up front is almost always cheaper than chasing the market down.

The higher the price point, the thinner the buyer pool. Above a million and a half, there are more homes than buyers who can write the check, and waiting is the riskiest move.

What this means if you’re buying

This is a good moment to be a buyer in Summerlin.

You have options, and you have negotiating room that buyers didn’t have a few years ago. Builders are adjusting prices, and resale sellers who’ve been sitting a while are often more flexible than their list price suggests.

But the leverage isn’t everywhere. The best lots, the best views, and the homes priced right still move fast. The trick is knowing where the room actually is, and knowing it early.

Hear about it first

By the time a price change shows up online, the buyers who were paying attention have already called.

I hear about these first because I’ve spent twenty years building relationships with the people who sell new construction in this valley, including years on the builder side myself. They text me first.

Want to know about price drops like this before everyone else does? Stay in touch. Call or text me at 702-335-4779, or book a time at jennifergraffrealtor.com.