Meritage Homes Corporation (MTH) wants to expand in the Raleigh-Durham market of North Carolina, so it recently purchased 46 one-acre home sites at the Inwood Forest community in south Raleigh
The Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel markets have been named the No. 1 and No. 3 healthiest homebuilding markets for 2011, respectively, by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence.
Model homes at Inwood Forest are expected to be inaugurated by September this year, while completed homes will be made available to homebuyers from early 2012 at prices ranging from the high $200,000s to the mid-$300,000s.
The Phoenix-based homebuilder plans to make its Inwood Forest community extremely energy-efficient. In addition, a number of advanced building technologies would be incorporated in these homes that are generally found only in custom-made homes. For successful execution of plans, the company appointed Clint Szubinski as the president of the Raleigh operation.
With the new purchase, Meritage’s market coverage has now been extended beyond the southern and western regions. The company is seeking aggressive expansion in potentially high growth areas to strengthen its market position. The purchase of home sites in south Raleigh was the first move towards the Raleigh region. By 2011, the company expects to acquire several other lots for additional communities in this area.
A few months back, Meritage had also announced the opening of six energy-efficient communities around the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. The company is making continuous efforts to attract homebuyers, despite the fragile state of the housing industry.
Meritage Homes is considered the ninth largest homebuilder in the U.S. based on home closings. At the end of 2010, the company had 151 actively selling communities in 12 metropolitan areas including Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Denver and Orlando. Last year, Meritage earned a net profit of $7 million or 22 cents per share compared with a net loss of $66 million or $2.12 per share a year ago. Revenues dropped 3% to $941.7 million.
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