Homebuilder goes deep into density - 2004-07-19 - Sacramento Business Journal
More evidence (see below) that builders go with condos and other CID housing because it allows higher density. And more evidence that the whole California housing market is so nuts that soon people will be paying a million bucks to live in a cardboard box.

John Laing Homes plans to increase its production by 52 percent next year by building most of its housing in projects that pack eight to 14 homes per acre.

Laing is Sacramento's No. 16 homebuilder, according to The Gregory Group, a company that studies the new-home market. The builder's move to erect 80 percent of its homes in such close-packed projects would make it among the first to commit so heavily to higher-density development, although Beazer Homes and KB Homes are also buying into the game.

The idea behind the move is to focus on those who want home ownership but can't afford today's price tags for a house on a big lot.

Laing's strategy is more evidence the market is changing in Sacramento. The region's days of ample and cheap land for building affordable homes with big yards are gone. Faced with a dwindling supply of land suitable for development, sold at skyrocketing prices, more builders will likely use Laing's approach.

Officials at Laing estimate they can slice as much as $50,000 from the price of a typical home by building in high-density projects that use less land. With revised home plans, most homes in the denser communities would sell for roughly $150,000 less than the average new-home price, pegged by The Gregory Group at $439,135 in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado, Yuba and Sutter counties.

Laing aims to increase its sales to 550 units next year from this year's estimated 360, said Kevin Carson, president of the company's Sacramento division.

The cost of elbow room: Traditionally, new homes in this region have been built at a density of five to six houses per acre. The average density in the four-county area is 5.7 lots per acre, about what it was in 2000, according to The Gregory Group.

But the price of land has doubled since 2000, noted Tom DeLucca, Laing's vice president of land development. That makes the old densities more expensive for builder and buyer alike.