Avila Real Estate Capital (AREC), a private real estate credit platform which finances land acquisition, development, and construction for builders and developers, has closed a $305 million credit facility with a master-planned community developer. The loan will fund the development and construction of more than 3,000 lots in California.
The value of the loan is believed to be the largest land loan for single-family detached housing in 2026, AREC founder and CEO Tony Avila tells BUILDER.
“Our borrower has incredible faith in us. What they like most about us is that we have an amazing relationship with their customers, home builders,” Avila says. “We have dozens of home builders investing so our borrower finds our lending platform extremely powerful.”
The facility is the second financing AREC has provided to the developer, with a total value in loans exceeding $700 million. The developer will draw on the new line to finance horizontal development and vertical construction, according to AREC.
“Our reputation and integrity is most critical. To have repeat customers really tells us that we must be doing a great job if somebody is willing to come back to use us again,” Avila says. “We have a very nice return that we can deliver to our investors and our borrowers, who can achieve their objectives. The borrower was able to achieve their objectives in working with us previously and, given that, they’ve come back to work with us again.”
To support the facility, AREC secured co-investment from a network of international partners, including banks in Israel and Brazil, global alternative asset managers, and Middle Eastern family office capital. AREC’s institutional investors include six of the top 20 builders (D.R. Horton, Century Communities, Toll Brothers, Dream Finders Homes, DRB Group, and LGI Homes) as well as developers including Hillwood.
“When a developer comes to borrow money from us, we can say that their customers are investing with us. That’s powerful,” Avila says. “Not only are we making a loan, but we’ve got investors as part of our lending syndicate that are potential customers for our borrowers.
“We can facilitate senior level meetings and introductions with potential buyers. That’s something that is unique,” he continues. “No other debt lender is able to facilitate that as well as we can. That’s a huge plus that every borrower sees as a high value add that we bring to the table.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the value of new housing construction in the United States is more than half a trillion dollars annually while persistent supply constraints continue to drive demand for credit across the land and lot development lifecycle. Entitlement and development timelines in California are among the longest in the country.
“This loan facilitates a broad range of price points, from the first-time buyer, first move-up, second move-up, and luxury and also age-targeted or multigenerational buyers,” Avila says. “This loan reaches a broad breadth of potential buyers and provides capital for a lot of different housing types to be built in a state that has a very significant shortage of housing.”
AREC focuses exclusively on financing land acquisition, horizontal development, construction, and finished lot delivery in high growth markets. AREC has financed more than 18,000 lots since its founding and is targeting financing for 100,000 lots over the next five years. Avila tells BUILDER the group has a pipeline of nearly $1 billion in loans and that AREC continues to see “massive demand” for its services.
“We see a dearth of vacant developed lots in a lot of markets. We see bank capital pulling back from providing loans into the sector. For us, we want to provide capital to regional and local, private builders and developers that are so critical to the function of the American housing industry,” Avila says. “In a lot of areas, we see the price of the home increasing faster than the inflation rate. That tells us there is not enough inventory being built, not enough lots on the ground. We want to help financing getting lots finished and in the hands of home builders.”
In addition to the institutional investors, AREC has received investments from over 20 builders that AREC affiliate Builder Advisor Group (BAG) has sold, bringing further industry expertise, deal flow, and operational capacity to support future projects. Avila says AREC’s relationships with builders provide a pipeline of lending opportunities and inform underwriting with ground-level market intelligence.
“[The synergies between AREC and BAG] differentiates us from everyone else in the space,” Avila says. “[Large publics] have never invested capital right off their balance sheets into a debt fund. Clearly, we are providing an important service. We’re providing, ultimately, a borrower with capital to produce finished lots, which those home builders need. So, the relationship is highly symbiotic. That relationship started from what’s been accomplished in Builder Advisor Group selling over 100 builders.”
