From Durham to Zebulon: Developers rush to buy land for more housing
Out-of-state developers are buying up large swaths of land to build new housing across the greater Triangle.
In just the past month, two large national builders with multiple communities already in the region have closed on major land deals to expand their footprint.
Among them is Arizona-based Meritage Homes, which recently paid an undisclosed sum for three tracts for its Raleigh division. The builder is planning a 25-acre development in Durham County, 57-acre development in Harnett County and 166-acre development in Wake County.
Separately, California-based homebuilder Tri Pointe Homes recently purchased close to 8.5 acres of mostly wooded land along Crescent Drive in Durham for around $5.9 million. It’s preparing to build a 102-unit townhome community.
That influx of new housing can’t come soon enough, say experts. While inventory is edging up slowly and the market is starting to normalize, the Triangle still has too little housing to meet demand. The Raleigh metro area alone needs at least 17,000 more units, according to a recent Zillow study.
“Housing demand continues to grow,” Scott Roylance, Meritage Homes’ Raleigh division president, told The News & Observer. “[We’re providing] buyers with an opportunity to put down roots.”
Meritage’s expanding footprint
Meritage’s first project, Umstead Grove off Umstead Road, about a 17-minute drive north of downtown Durham, will have 50 two-story, single-family homes. There will be a choice of five floor plans ranging from 2,300 to 3,200 square feet.
Roylance said prices will start in the mid $500,000s. Home sales are expected to begin in early fall 2023.
About 50 miles south, the second development, River Glen, is in the fast-growing town of Angier. It will feature 152 home sites with two-story, single-family homes, between N.C. 55 and Ennis Road. They’ll range from 2,300 to 3,200 square feet.
Construction is underway, the company said.
Finally, Meritage is developing a 406-home community called Cadence Meadows in the easternmost town of Wake County. It’s just off U.S. 64, minutes from downtown Zebulon and U.S. 264.
It will include 158 townhomes ranging from 1,400 to 1,700 square feet, and 248 single-family homes from 2,000 to 3,200 square feet.
Construction is expected to begin in July 2023.
Filling a ‘void’
While most builders are still focused on bringing single-family homes to the Triangle’s outlying towns, others are pushing for townhomes in more “compact neighborhoods” in the region’s inner suburbs.
Tri Pointe Homes’ most recent investment, Twinleaf Townes, in Durham will offer “12 units per acre,” land acquisition director Amanda Hoyle told The N&O.
“Land is so expensive now in the Triangle’s inner core, like Raleigh, Cary, Durham and Chapel Hill, that in order to make the project pencil out, you’re pretty much required to do townhomes.”
The Triangle’s housing market is “normalizing,” say experts, after two-plus years of sky-high prices. In May, the median home price across the Triangle was $410,000, according to data from Triangle Multiple Listing Service, down 2.4% year over year.
However, new home sales spiked 4.1%, the highest jump since March 2022, the agency said, reflecting a growing demand for new construction
On the Market
Want to keep up with the latest Triangle real estate news? Subscribe to On the Market, The News & Observer's weekly real estate newsletter and look for it in your inbox every Thursday morning. Sign up here. It's free!
