Howard Hughes Sold Over $100 Million of Summerlin Land to Homebuilders

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Summerlin's developer keeps selling dirt like it's going out of style — because, at these prices, the builders can't get enough of it.

Public property records show Howard Hughes Holdings, the Texas-based developer behind Las Vegas' largest master-planned community, sold 64.6 acres of Summerlin land in two separate transactions worth a combined $106.4 million. Richmond American Homes bought a 36.3-acre parcel for $55 million — more than $1.5 million an acre — with plans drawn up for an 89-lot subdivision of single-family homes. Toll Brothers, the luxury builder, paid $51.4 million for 28.3 acres — about $1.8 million an acre — and plans 148 high-end homes there. Both parcels sit west of the 215 Beltway–Summerlin Parkway interchange, in the desert on the valley's western edge.

The sales are the latest in a run of big Summerlin land deals. In the last three years, homebuilders including Pulte Homes, Toll Brothers, Richmond American Homes, KB Home, Tri Pointe Homes and Lennar have collectively spent more than $250 million for nearly 200 acres inside Summerlin, according to CoStar data reported by Homes.com. Entry points in some of these communities start around $650,000 — well above the average Las Vegas home price, but on par for Summerlin.

What the builders are planning

Richmond American's 89-lot subdivision adds production single-family homes on the west side, while Toll Brothers' 148 units target the high end — the builder's sweet spot in Summerlin, where it already operates communities like Shadow Point. Toll's newest Summerlin play, Reflection Ridge in the La Madre Peaks village, opened for sale in September: three two-story designs from about 3,300 to 3,800 square feet, 4 to 5 bedrooms, with pricing anticipated from about $1.2 million.

The math behind the land prices tells its own story. At $1.5 to $1.8 million an acre, builders need homes priced well into the six figures — and often seven — to make the numbers work. That's the Summerlin premium: the community's homes and rentals command some of the highest prices in the region, and builders pay up for the dirt because buyers pay up for the address. "For a Tri Pointe or KB Home, they'll build similar communities throughout the Valley. Summerlin will always get the higher price for the same model," Las Vegas agent Dan-Goor told Homes.com.

A record year for Howard Hughes

The sales fit Howard Hughes' broader land strategy. The company ended 2025 with record results for its master-planned communities segment: earnings before tax of $476.1 million, up 36 percent from the prior year, driven by strong single-family land sales at Summerlin and at Bridgeland in the Houston area. Howard Hughes sold 621 residential acres across its communities at an average of $890,000 an acre in 2025, up from 445 acres in 2024. "The strongest predictor of our future is our track record," a Howard Hughes executive said.

Summerlin itself is now in what analysts call its endgame phase. The 22,500-acre community — named for Howard Hughes' grandmother, Jean Amelia Summerlin — holds about 130,000 residents and 58,000 homes across more than 30 villages, with a 200-mile trail system, parks, schools, and a 400-acre Downtown Summerlin district with more than 130 restaurants and shops, office space, the Las Vegas Ballpark and Red Rock Casino. With the remaining developable land shrinking, each parcel commands more — a 2.7-acre custom lot in The Summit is asking $28.5 million, and Summerlin's top home sale to start 2026 was a $22.5 million estate in The Summit, according to reporting on valley luxury sales.

The market the homes will land in

The new subdivisions will arrive in a Las Vegas market that has cooled from frenzy to something closer to balance. The September median sold price for a single-family home across the Greater Las Vegas MLS was $475,000, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, with homes selling in a median of 27 days and 8,477 homes for sale — about 4.4 months of supply, per Las Vegas REALTORS data pulled Oct. 3. That's close to balanced, with a slight edge to sellers. The median sits $15,000 below the all-time high of $490,000 reached in May and June of this year.

New construction has felt the slowdown more sharply. Las Vegas homebuilders landed 4,284 net home sales through June, down 15 percent from the same period in 2025, and pulled 4,156 new-home permits — down 25 percent, a forward-looking sign of deliberate restraint. Nearly two-thirds of builders are offering incentives: rate buydowns, closing-cost contributions and price reductions. Even in Summerlin, the discounting has reached new construction — two homes at KB Home's Cloudbreak Ridge in La Madre Peaks recently dropped $53,000 and $55,000, about 6 percent, on brand-new homes in one of the valley's most in-demand pockets.

Summerlin's own zip codes show the split personality. Summerlin South (89135) posted a $922,000 median in September, up 15.4 percent from a year ago; Summerlin West (89138), where much of the new building is happening, came in at $784,000, down 10.4 percent — though monthly zip-level samples swing sharply. And in July, three of the five most expensive publicly marketed valley sales were in Summerlin, led by a $7.7 million estate in The Ridges — though all five sold below their original asking prices, with discounts of 3 to 16 percent.

The takeaway for buyers and builders alike: Summerlin keeps moving dirt at record prices because the land is finite and the brand is strong — RCLCO ranked Summerlin 7th among the nation's top-selling master-planned communities, with its builders selling 515 homes in the first half of the year. But the homes going on that $106.4 million of land will have to sell in a market where even luxury buyers are negotiating. The developers are betting, at $1.5 million-plus an acre, that the Summerlin premium is durable. The next two years of sales will show whether they're right.

Vegas real estate keeps turning over at the top end — Ashford just sold the Embassy Suites Las Vegas for $43.5 million, and downtown's rowdiest saloon is building a permanent home on Main Street.