LGI Acquires More Lots in San Antonio

LGI Homes will expand in San Antonio after closing the sale of 239 acres in the Luckey Ranch development from The Kalikow Group.

The site has 539 acres zoned for residential development, including 71 acres for commercial use. The Woodlands, Texas-based builder of homes for first-time buyers has acquired all the available residential land in that project, having purchased 93 acres in 2011 and 208 acres in 2013, the same year that it became a publicly traded company.

Some analysts have sounded the sell alarm on LGI common stock shares because production in the Texas oil patch has declined and could hurt new-construction demand. But, in their guidance for 2015, company managers said that LGI is aiming to sell homes in 50 to 55 communities and to close between 2,800 and 3,200 houses. Last year, the builder had a record 2,356 closings in 39 communities.

The San Antonio market is enjoying an unemployment rate well below the national average. This is attributed to new business created by Fort Sam Houston’s military medicine expansion, more capacity added to Toyota’s production facility for the Tacoma pickup truck, Sea World, and government projects such as the San Antonio River Walk. Housing starts in that market increased 13.7 percent in 2014 compared with the previous year, and median home prices gained almost 10 percent through the third quarter.

More than half of LGI’s closings last year were in Texas. The builder also is active in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; and recently moved into Charlotte, N.C. PB