In 2016, builders around the country enjoyed growth as the housing recovery matured. In all, 82 companies on this year’s Builder 100 list closed more homes than they had the year before.
A closer look at five companies—AV Homes, Fulton Homes, Dream Finders Homes, Desert View Homes, and Mattamy Homes—that enjoyed a 40% or more increase in closings reveals some common keys to success in 2016.
Geography was one indicator. These builders held large stakes in fast-growing states. If you were a builder in Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, or Colorado, there is a good chance you enjoyed more closings in 2016.
If you drill down even more, the Denver, Phoenix, and Jacksonville, Fla., markets proved strong for many of last year’s fast-growing builders.
Fulton, Mattamy, and AV had successful communities in once-troubled Phoenix. Mattamy and Dream Finders found success in Jacksonville, while Desert View and Dream Finders had communities that posted strong gains in Denver.
But BUILDER wanted to go beyond metro-level performance to determine what drove 2016’s fast-growing builders. With the help of Metrostudy and the builders themselves, we were able to identify the communities that sparked growth among the most successful companies on the Builder 100.
What we found was that success in once-troubled markets like Jacksonville and Phoenix wasn’t the only common thread for these companies if you go down to the community level. Drive to qualify may not be back, but in many cases, like Desert View’s Johnson Farm near Denver and Fulton’s Queen Creek in Phoenix, providing a more affordable home farther away from a major metro area paid dividends in 2016. If these developments were near retail and jobs, the chances of success increased even more.
In the following pages, you’ll find out what made Queen Creek, Johnson Farm, and developments from Mattamy, AV, and Dream Finders successful in 2016.
