The Haven is a 2,212-square-foot plan at Dove Rock, Woodside Homes' neighborhood in Summerlin's Kestrel village. On the price sheet Woodside publishes, the Haven appears twice. As a townhome, it starts at $559,990. As a detached single-family home, the same plan with the same square footage starts at $589,990.
You get the same kitchen, the same bedrooms, and the same garage either way. The $30,000 difference pays for the space between your wall and your neighbor's. For a buyer comparing Summerlin's newest neighborhoods, that one line on a price sheet explains a lot about how the whole master plan is priced. In this market, ground is expensive and square footage is cheap, and the builders' own numbers show by how much.
Same plan, two prices
Dove Rock works almost like a controlled experiment. Woodside offers four floor plans, and each one comes as a townhome and as a detached home. The sales office is at 1833 Swallow Roost Street.
| Plan | Townhome start | Detached start | Detached premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arden | $519,990 at 1,716 sq ft | $549,990 at 1,727 sq ft | $30,000 |
| Briar | $535,990 at 1,933 sq ft | $567,990 at 1,947 sq ft | $32,000 |
| Cora | $549,990 at 2,120 sq ft | $579,990 at 2,120 sq ft | $30,000 |
| Haven | $559,990 at 2,212 sq ft | $589,990 at 2,212 sq ft | $30,000 |
The premium hardly moves as the plans grow. Adding about 500 square feet, from Arden to Haven, raises the townhome price by $40,000. Detaching any plan from its neighbor costs roughly $30,000 every time. So the separation is priced as a fixed cost, much like a parcel of land, and it does not scale with the house.
These are starting prices published by the builder, listed as they appeared when this post was researched. Builder prices change, and lot premiums, upgrades, and incentives will change the final number on any specific home. The pattern across all four pairs still holds.
Add a staircase and the math flips
In the La Madre Peaks village, KB Home sells two collections under the Cloudbreak Ridge name. Enclaves is a neighborhood of one-story homes. Reserves is two-story. KB lists both as gated communities. Here are the published starting prices as they appeared when this post was researched:
- Enclaves Plan 2251: $799,990 for 2,251 sq ft, about $355 per square foot
- Enclaves Plan 2387: $819,990 for 2,387 sq ft, about $344 per square foot
- Reserves Plan 2753: $839,990 for 2,753 sq ft, about $305 per square foot
- Reserves Plan 2989: $869,990 for 2,989 sq ft, about $291 per square foot
- Reserves Plan 3095: $884,990 for 3,095 sq ft, about $286 per square foot
Going from the smallest one-story plan to the smallest two-story plan adds about 500 square feet for $40,000, or roughly $80 per added foot. A second floor sits on ground the buyer has already paid for, so its square footage costs little. A single-story home needs more ground for every room. That makes the larger footprint the expensive part of the house, even when the house itself is smaller.
The comparison has limits. KB notes that a homesite premium may apply in both collections, and these figures come from a single builder. They show how the arithmetic works without measuring a single-story premium for the whole valley. Still, the direction matches Dove Rock. The more ground a home uses, the more it costs, whether or not you get more living space.
Where the price of the ground comes from
Every builder in Summerlin buys its land from Howard Hughes Holdings, the master developer. That company's own filings explain why the ground is so expensive.
The Q2 2026 supplemental shows 1,890 saleable residential acres left in Summerlin as of June 30, 2026. Its land models estimate an average of about $1.97 million per acre over the next five years, with residential sellout projected for 2043. That figure is a forecast, not a closing price, and it leaves out bulk sales of unfinished lots, which sell at lower prices. Actual transactions point the same way. Howard Hughes' full-year 2025 results reported seven superpad sales in Summerlin covering 181 acres at about $1.7 million per acre.
The way builders pay for land is changing too. Howard Hughes reports a revenue line called "builder price participation," which fell to $6.9 million in Q2 2026 from $14.1 million a year earlier. The company attributed part of the drop to "higher upfront pricing on land sales," which left fewer margin-eligible homes. With more of the land cost paid upfront, the builder carries a larger fixed cost on each lot before framing starts. A detached home on its own lot, or a one-story home with a wider footprint, carries more of that cost than a townhome plan does.
Why price per square foot misleads across Summerlin
Once you see ground as the main cost, the spread across Summerlin's new neighborhoods stops looking random. Summerlin's July 20, 2026 roundup listed more than 110 floorplans across 20 neighborhoods, priced from the $400,000s to more than $1 million.
The lowest prices come with formats that use less land. Toll Brothers' The Loughton in Summerlin Centre is a neighborhood of two-level detached condominiums from 1,003 to 1,370 square feet, starting at $449,995, with 102 residences. Richmond American's Iris Glen in Grand Park offers attached paired homes. Its May announcement said prices started in the $600,000s, and Summerlin's July roundup listed it from the high $500,000s.
At the top of the range, single-story homes carry the highest prices. Lennar opened Fairview in Grand Park on July 13, 2026. It offers three single-story Next Gen plans from 3,793 to 3,972 square feet, priced from about $1.9 million to more than $2 million. At Lennar's listed $1,898,990 start, that works out to roughly $480 to $500 per square foot. Prices at Taylor Morrison's single-story Esplanade at Red Rock have moved since opening. The July 6 announcement listed "just under $700,000," and the Villas collection now starts at $624,990.
Summerlin's own marketing reports growing interest in single-story plans. A September 8, 2026 article on Summerlin's site says single-story buyers now span every generation. In it, Jenni Pevoto, Senior Director of Master Planned Community Marketing for Summerlin, pointed to stronger connections to patios, courtyards, pools, and backyards. That article comes from the developer and does not measure prices. But if demand for single-story homes is broad, it falls on the format that needs the most land per room.
A Summerlin buyer comparing two homes at $330 and $450 per square foot may be comparing a large two-story home with a single-story home or a small detached condo. The gap in price per square foot mostly reflects ground, and the two numbers are not directly comparable.
Reading the price sheet in today's market
This matters now because builders are under pressure, and the pressure does not hit every format the same way. Southern Nevada new-home net contracts fell 31% year over year in August 2026 to 502. Over the same month, the median new-home closing price reached a record $552,990, and builders were using concessions, including price cuts. On October 1, 2026, Freddie Mac's national average 30-year fixed rate reached 7.28%, its highest in almost three years, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Summerlin itself has held up better. Howard Hughes reported Summerlin net new-home sales up 2% in Q2 2026.
When a builder discounts, the ground under the home is a cost it has already paid. So any price movement on a specific plan is a fair question to ask about, and the Esplanade change is a public example of a starting price moving after launch.
The same logic applies to resale. Valley-wide, the median existing single-family home sold for $475,000 in August 2026, down 1% from a year earlier and below the $490,000 peak in May and June, Vegas Inc reported. That figure covers the whole metro, not Summerlin alone. When a resale home in an older Summerlin village is priced against new construction, compare it with a new home in the same format: a detached home with a detached home, a single-story with a single-story. Comparing it with whatever new home starts at a similar price can mislead.
Questions buyers raise about these price gaps
Does a townhome's lower price mean lower monthly costs? Not necessarily. We could not verify HOA or sub-association dues for townhomes versus detached homes at Dove Rock, or for Enclaves versus Reserves at Cloudbreak Ridge. What those dues cover, such as exterior upkeep or landscaping, can offset part of a purchase-price gap. Ask the builder's sales office for each format's current dues and what they include, in writing.
Is the $30,000 at Dove Rock the same everywhere in Summerlin? No. It applies to one builder's published starting prices in one neighborhood. Other builders price lots, gates, and views differently, and homesite premiums can widen the gap on a specific lot.
Is one-story or two-story the better value? That depends on what you need from the house. The price sheets show that a one-story plan uses more ground per room and is priced that way. Whether the single-level layout is worth that cost is a personal decision, and the math above simply makes the cost visible.
If you're touring Summerlin's new neighborhoods this fall and trying to figure out what a wall, a yard, or a single level is worth to your family, I'm glad to go through the price sheets with you and line up comparisons that actually match. Baylee N Collins can help you see what each number is paying for before you commit. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
