Houston-based Johnson Development Corp. has announced it’s releasing more than 1,660 homesites to builders across six of its 15 Houston-area communities between now and the end of the year.
The communities include Jordan Ranch, Harvest Green, Sienna, Woodforest, Edgewater and Grand Central Park.
The largest number of sites — 550 — will go to eight different builders in Jordan Ranch in the Katy-Fulshear area. Beazer Homes, Chesmar Homes, David Weekley Homes, Highland Homes, J. Patrick Homes, Lennar, Perry Homes and Westin Homes receive 40- to 70-foot-wide lots — more than half of which are 50 feet or smaller — and some will accommodate townhomes.
In July, real estate consulting firm RCLCO listed Jordan Ranch as the nation’s 50th top-selling master-planned community, with 205 sales during the first half of the year, the first time the community made the top 50.
“What we have planned in Jordan Ranch is typical of a Johnson community — having a wide variety of homes to accommodate many buyer needs,” Michael Smith, president and CEO of Johnson Development, said in a statement. “It also allows residents to move up or down in a home as their needs change without leaving the community where they have put down roots.”
Harvest Green, a 1,300-acre “agrihood” community north of Richmond, will add 452 lots by November. The new homesites inside the new 630-acre section Johnson Development acquired last year will be distributed among nine builders: Coventry Homes, D.R. Horton, David Weekley Homes, Highland Homes, Lennar, Newmark Homes, Perry Homes, Tri Pointe Homes and Westin Homes.
Besides homesites, the section will have additional community amenities, with parks, trails, green space and a pool planned.
Sienna, a 7,000-acre community in Missouri City, will have another 226 homesites. Of those, 145 45- and 50-foot lots will go to Chesmar Homes, Newmark Homes, Perry Homes and Toll Brothers by the end of this month, and 65- and 70-foot lots will go to David Weekley Homes, Shea Homes, Toll Brothers and Tri Pointe Homes by the end of the year.
Sienna ranked 36th on RCLCO's July list with 236 home sales, down 31% from the previous year. The community, which was previously known as Sienna Plantation, has made the top 50 list for the past seven years.
Builders in Woodforest, in Montgomery County west of Conroe, will be able to purchase 203 homesites, most of which should be ready by next month, Johnson Development said. RCLCO listed Woodforest as the nation's 47th best-selling community with 223 sales this year, down 16% compared to the first half of 2021.
Nearby Grand Central Park, a more than 2,000-acre community built on the Boy Scouts’ former Camp Strake property in Conroe, will have an additional 102 lots ranging from 55 to 65 feet in its South Village section. Builders are David Weekley Homes, Drees Custom Homes, Gehan Homes, Highland Homes and Westin Homes.
Edgewater, a 330-acre community on Clear Creek in Webster, will release 86 50-foot lots to builders Coventry Homes and Highland Homes. The community is nearing build-out, “with only a handful of single-family lots and properties for 45 townhomes remaining,” Smith said.
“We are pleased to be able to bring these homesites to the market,” he said. “Texas continues to be a sought-after destination, and there’s a need for quality housing — especially in those communities that are nearing closeout. Homebuyers gravitate to highly amenitized, lifestyle-oriented communities.”
The additional homesites come at a time of slowing homebuyer demand amid record-high prices and rising mortgage interest rates as a result of the Federal Reserve Bank’s attempt to slow inflation.
Greater Houston home sales rose for nearly two years after an initial shock at the start of the pandemic, leading to record-low inventory and pricing out many first-time homebuyers.
This, combined with high mortgage rates, led the number of sales to finally stop climbing last April, and the Houston Association of Realtors has recorded year-over-year declines in sales every month since.
“Although it would have been more optimal to release these lots before the current mortgage interest rate growth of the last few months, large-scale MPCs like (Johnson Development Corp.’s) developments are designed for the long-term, including multiple anticipated up- and down-cycles,” said Lawrence Dean, senior vice president of advisory for Texas at real estate research firm Zonda.
He added that despite a slowing market, there is no shortage of demand by homebuilders for lots in established communities because it “allows builders to fill their lot pipelines for 2022, 2023 and beyond at a much lower-risk profile than if they purchased raw land and developed it themselves,” Dean said.
Johnson Development is one of the nation’s top-selling residential developers and has 19 active communities — 15 in the Houston area, two in Dallas-Fort Worth, one in the Austin area and one in Atlanta — totaling 47,500 acres and 80,000 residential units at total build-out. Those communities also include 16.7 million square feet of commercial and retail space.