By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal
Despite a cooling housing market, two public homebuilders are seeing stronger sales of their multigenerational living product.
Miami-based Lennar Corp. and Newport Beach, California-based Landsea Homes Corp. are seeing stronger sales of this unique product amid high rental and mortgage interest rates.
Lennar’s Phoenix division was the first to introduce the concept in 2011, and Lennar divisions across the country are following suit, said Alan Jones, Phoenix division president for Lennar.
With 50 communities in metro Phoenix, Lennar Corp. is opening a new community early next year near the Taiwain Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd’s 1,128-acre manufacturing plant under construction in north Phoenix.
Middle Vistas in North Phoenix at the I-17 and Frontage Rd.
Called Middle Vistas, the 71-acre community will include 228 homes, including its Next Gen multigenerational living product, Jones said.
The homes feature an attached unit, with a door connecting the two separate living spaces, allowing family members to live together but also providing their own space.
Typically, the Next Gen product made up 20 to 25% of all the business in Jones’ Phoenix division. Now it’s up to 30 to 35%, he said.
Some of Lennar’s communities — such as Mystic in north Peoria, Copperleaf in north Phoenix, Warner Ranch in Gilbert and Asante in Surprise — Next Gen sales are as high as 40% of all the business.
“That’s significant when we’re building 2,500 homes a year,” Jones said.
While he hasn’t built an entire community of Next Gen homes, it’s something Jones said he wants to do in the future.
“It’s fair to say that as a result of this increase, don’t be surprised if an entire community in the future is all Next Gen,” he said.
The Next Gen product has morphed over time, starting out as a multigenerational home with the idea of having a grandparent living nearby, he said.
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