How Hot Land Sales Offset A Housing Glut in Phoenix

The Phoenix housing market, one of the hardest hit in the country, is the scene of sharply falling prices and a rapidly accumulating glut.

But the market also is beginning to see a phenomenon that at first glance would seem to contradict these other trends: land sales.

Wolff Co. and Langley Properties, two local real-estate investment firms, recently paid $70 million to acquire nearly 7,000 acres of residential land, or about 23,000 house lots, on the far outskirts of Phoenix, from D.R. Horton Inc., one of the nation's largest builders.

John Laing Homes, a large privately held builder based in Newport Beach, Calif., bought 136 house lots from developer SunCor in September, its first-ever land purchase in the Phoenix market. John Laing, a subsidiary of Dubai-based Emaar Properties, plans to start building model homes in the first quarter of 2008 and will likely start selling homes in May. More...