Getting your player ready...
If there was ever a doubt that home builders around Denver would be scrambling to keep up with demand this spring, those worries vanish beneath a snowy panorama of the Indian Peaks behind Boulder, as seen from new neighborhoods in Erie and Broomfield.
Meritage Homes opened Flatiron Meadows on Erie Parkway east of U.S. 287 nine months ago, but has already roared through 70 sales and its first phase of lots there. Its homes are around 13 minutes from Boulder’s business campuses and chic shopping plazas, and have energy conservation features that go way beyond their modest price range, from the high $300s. “We flew through that first phase,” says Meritage’s vice president of sales, Craig Dunkelberger. “Any sales professional would say the same thing. There’s not a lot to pick from in the resale market right now, and buyers are turning to builders as a better option.” “It’s exciting now,” says Alisa Poncher, director of sales at Colorado-based Oakwood Homes. “We’re seeing substantial growth in all of our communities, to the point that were doing lot releases again.” Two week ago, Poncher says, Oakwood opened a sales trailer at Tollgate, just east of E470 in Southeast Aurora, served by Cherry Creek Schools and close to Southlands shopping center. The first finished models are still to come, but Oakwood has already sold 11 homes there. “We’re seeing increases in buyer traffic and qualified traffic,” Poncher notes. “The resale market doesn’t have the inventory, and that’s pushing pricing up, and makes sellers see the value of selling and buying a new home.” That’s giving a particular advantage to builders who ‘specked’ a lot of new home inventory during the cold months, when the direction of the market was less certain – such as Lennar Homes, which launched a flurry of homes for purchase at master-planned Terrain at Castle Rock, three miles east of I-25 on Founders Parkway, named Community of the Year for the entire Denver-Boulder area last year. Coming into March, Lennar, Taylor Morrison Homes and TRI Pointe Homes all had an inventory at Terrain – but those homes are melting away like snow on a spring morning, according to Carrie Castilian, marketing manager for Lennar. “We’ve had a bunch of homes move – two last week, two more this week,” says Castilian. “It’s great; people are selling their (older) homes faster and then they need a home right away. We have those and other builders don’t.”