realestate

Texas Expansion Smooth Sailing for Landsea Homes

California-to-Texas migration continues unabated: Homebuilder Landsea Homes relocates HQ to Dallas.

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andsea Homes, a California-based homebuilder, is expanding its presence in Texas, with no signs of slowing down. The company moved its national headquarters from Newport Beach to Dallas last year and has since acquired several builders in the state, including Antares Homes for $232 million.

    The acquisition cemented Landsea's developments in North Texas communities such as Midlothian, Azle, Cleburne, Granbury, and Fort Worth. The company is also selling homes at two of its communities in the Austin area, with two more master-planned communities on the way in Kyle.

    Texas has become a hot market for new home sales, with four of the nation's top five markets this year located in the state. Dallas led the pack with 42,840 closings, followed by Houston with 32,791, according to Zonda.

    Landsea holds 21 home communities in Texas, its second-most among its five main markets behind Florida. However, Texas was only its fourth-highest earning market in the third quarter, generating about $51.7 million or 15 percent of its total revenue.

    The company's vice president of corporate homebuilding operations, Josh Santos, attributed Landsea's success in Texas to its strategic decision to relocate its headquarters from California to Dallas. "It was a better place to be," he said. "Texas is an absolutely thriving market for home building and the demography of Texas over the past couple of years post-Covid blowing up."

    Landsea has been offering buyer incentives, including discounted blocks of lending and mortgage rate-buydowns, to attract customers in a market struggling with high mortgage rates. The company's financial services arm, Landsea Mortgage, allows it to offer competitive financing options to buyers.

    Santos noted that the company customizes its incentive offerings for each community, depending on the local market conditions. "Our communities to the South are very focused on entry-level, first-time home buyers," he said. "That group is definitely using more 3.99 percent financing than some of our projects up to the north."

    Regarding potential impacts from U.S. tariff policies under Donald Trump's second term, Santos stated that Landsea is watching the situation closely but is not overly concerned. The company has a roster of imported materials, with only about 30 percent coming from overseas.

    Looking ahead, Santos sees opportunities in the Texas housing market, particularly in the entry-level and luxury segments. "We're hunting for opportunities that can bring us into some of those upper-end segments," he said.

Landsea Homes' Texas expansion underway with construction equipment on site in Austin.