Firethorne Sold 230 Homes in 2006

Major developments in the Katy area saw an onslaught of home sales and construction in 2006, according to year-end numbers for Cinco Ranch and Firethorne.
Newland Communities, the developer of Cinco Ranch, saw a sharp 29 percent increase from 2005, jumping from 727 sales in 2005 to 942 sales in last year.
Cinco Ranch, a 7,400-acre community started in 1991, is the largest of the six Houston-area master-planned communities being developed by Newland Communities, and it also reported the company's largest sales gains in Houston. As of Jan. 1, Cinco Ranch has sold 8,018 homes, making it one of the top 20 residential developments in the nation, according to the community's Web site.

Overall, new-home sales in Newland Communities developments in Houston increased 29 percent in 2006, rising to 2,633, from 2,019 in the previous year.
" Headlines talk about a national housing slump, but we are seeing a contrary story here in Texas, and in Houston in particular," said Ted Nelson, Texas division president for Newland Communities. "Texas grew more than any other state in 2006, adding 580,000 to its population, and this is expected to be a long-term trend. Houston added 75,000 new jobs in 2006, helping to create conditions that are very conducive to new-home sales."
Cinco Ranch, with prices in the $170,000s, debuted 20 new model homes and added five new builders last year.
Newland, however, saw a decline in sales in the Seven Meadows community, going from 417 homes in 2005 to 389 in 2006 because the community ran out of homesites in several key price ranges, according to spokesman Damon Thomas.
" With 800 homesites delivered toward the end of the year in the second and final phase of Seven Meadows, 2007 is already off to a strong start," he said.

A little further west, Firethorne, a community on F.M. 1463 between the Katy Freeway and F.M. 1093, experienced the same rapid growth, with 230 home sales in 2006.
" We underestimated the Katy area market," Firethorne general manager Wayne Meyer said. "We were out of lots in some building programs in the first eight months of home sales and have been scrambling to get ahead of our builders."
Meyer reiterated Nelson's point that the national slump is not indicative of the Katy area, and he believes it comes down to the area's longtime biggest selling point.

" Where in the world can you get the quality of education provided or the excellent facilities as in Katy ISD? The cost is a bargain when compared to other institutions, including private," he said. "Most private schools offering same or less educational opportunities are charging as much as $10,000 per semester tuition." Meyer said price is another key factor.
" New homes are still a bargain compared to national, state and even (other) parts of the Houston metropolitan market," he said.
Established in 2005, Firethorne has a country feel to its community with 150 acres devoted to parks and recreational uses, along with a 12-acre lake. It even threw in a free gallon of milk from its own milkman for the first six months after a move-in. It has room for 3,600 home sites.

Meyer said he believes a slowdown in some communities will occur, but he is bullish on how his community will fare.
" Firethorne will have an increase from 2006 in the number of home sales," he said. "The drop in sales will be relative to the quality of the community and the type of building programs offered. We believe the quality of Firethorne and the amenities offered will actually give us an advantage over lesser communities."
Numbers high in area, nation. Nationally, housing starts declined 12 percent last year compared to 2005, according to the Greater Houston Builders Association. But with more than 1.5 million home starts in 2006, it was still the third-best year in U.S. housing.

" There will likely be another decline of 10 percent or more in 2007 before the recovery trend appears in late 2007 and early 2008," industry analyst Mike Inselmann recently told more than 1,100 GHBA members at an annual forecast luncheon.
Inselmann also said he believes Houston will finish ranked first in the nation because the area added nearly 100,000 jobs.
" In any case, 2006 will surely go down on the books as one of the best in the last 20 years in terms of job growth performance, probably second only to 1997, the last year Houston added 107,000 jobs," he said.

Sales of existing homes through MLS continue to set records, with 80,000 total transactions last year, of which 72,000 were single-family homes.
There were an estimated 50,000 new-home sales during 2006, accounting for 40 percent of the combined new and used home sales in the Greater Houston area, Inselmann said.

He also said it was the 20th consecutive year that new home starts in the area exceeded the prior year.

Cinco Ranch's home sales have consistently stayed higher than 400 since the turn of the millennium, despite a dramatic drop in 2003 and '04. The decline, according to spokesman Damon Thomas, is because Newland was running out of lots in several of the most popular price points.

Year No.
2000 779
2001 922
2002 715
2003 498
2004 412
2005 727
2006 943

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