As Houston home prices skyrocket, a local builder believes he has a solution– smaller houses.
J. Patrick Homes, a Houston-based high-end homebuilder, announced the new concept, which aims to offer luxury homes for more affordable prices, according to the Houston Business Journal. The company’s typical models, which can be found in 10 master-planned communities across Texas, range from about $600,000 to $1.5 million.
J. Patrick Homes president Tim Drone (LinkedIn)
While J. Patrick usually builds on 70-, 80- and 90-foot wide sites, with floor plans ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 square feet, the new, smaller homes will have six floor plans, ranging from 2,178 to 3,400 square feet, on 55-foot sites.
The first phase of the Nuvo Vista line will consist of 29 new homes in Johnson Development’s Jordan Ranch, a master-planned community in Fulshear outside Houston.
“A $500,000 home today is not the size of what it was two, three, four years ago,” said Tim Drone, president of J. Patrick Homes. “A $400,000 or $500,000 house in a master-planned community now is considered a first-time move-up or even a first-time buyer product.”
The new line is J. Patrick’s response to these rising prices, and if the 55-foot sites prove successful, the firm plans to go even smaller with 50-foot-wide homesites.
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Supply-chain disruptions impacting the price and ability to get materials to construction sites on time have had enormous ripple effects in a housing market known for its affordability. Lumber packages for Texas builders have “increased by 50 percent,” according to Drone.
Rising prices, coupled with shrinking single-family home supply, led to a 17.9 percent median price increase to $310,000 from January 2021 to January 2022, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.
The new homes will likely start at around $450,000 and will resemble J. Patrick’s signature design, complete with stucco, brick exteriors, and metal roof accents.
The target clientele for the new line is buyers who are moving up for the first time as well as empty-nesters who are downsizing, Drone said. He expects to start selling these homes in Jordan Ranch by the end of this month or early April.
[Houston Business Journal] – Maddy Sperling