SNHBA CEO Tina Frias talks housing

The Las Vegas Valley new-home market is doing great compared to the rest of the nation as a whole, and the new head of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association is happy to be part of the ride.

For more than six months Tina Frias has been the CEO of the SNHBA as Southern Nevada homebuilders have had a bounce-back year even as buyers continue to deal with elevated interest rates.

The 6,652 net sales during the first six months of 2024 are 19 percent higher than the 5,859 in 2023. That compares to the nation as a whole where new home sales fell 1.1 percent in the first half of 2024, according to RCLCO.

Frias spoke with RJ New Homes to assess the housing market, her role as CEO and plans for her organization of Southern Nevada homebuilders.

Q: How are builders feeling about the new-home market at this time?

A: They seem to be in a good place. More than 25 percent of home closings are going toward new-home buyers, and that’s good for the industry. We think that is attributed to two factors. With interest rates higher than in recent years, there’s a lot of reduction in existing home inventory because there’s a lot of individuals who don’t want to sell their home and miss the lower interest rate that was in place before interest rates began to increase. Another component of that is builders are investing substantial amounts of money to buy down interest rates for folks to lower monthly payments. I will tell you that is enabling some folks to get into home ownership that wouldn’t be able to get into it otherwise. When we talk about the gaps of home ownership being accessible to Nevadans, I could not imagine what that would look like without builders making investments helping people getting into homes.

Q: Why is Southern Nevada doing so much better than the nation as a whole?

A: I think this is such an exciting time to be part of the Southern Nevada community. I think when you look at how we evolved over the last five years with a major sports stadium and having our own sports teams, we’re being recognized as a sports capital of the world along with a place that hosts larger events (and concerts) like Beyonce and Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl and Formula One. Southern Nevada is becoming a premier place to live and going through the process of becoming a major metropolitan area, and that’s attracting more people to want to live here. Why wouldn’t you? It’s a great place to live.

Q: What are the issues facing builders?

A: With rising costs, the No. 1 thing we’ve been dealing with is land. As land becomes more scarce, it’s simple economics and ultimately supply and demand that impacts the prices of that land. We’re looking at numbers averaging about $1 million an acre through the valley and as high as $1.6 million per acre. We’re certainly supportive of any federal legislation that increases developable land in Nevada. We’re supportive of the bill that Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto recently introduced with the 25,000 acres for developable land. It’s something SNHBA is going to be diving into to take a look at where that additional land is for new homebuilding. We would like to see more than 25,000 acres. At this point, we are projecting to have enough developable land for eight years or less so we understand how important it is to get what we can at this time.

Q: What is another issue?

A: One of the things we are experiencing within our industry is we’re seeing shortfalls in labor, largely attributable to generational gaps in labor. For so many decades, families educated young people about going to college and getting a degree. I think those are wonderful things that are great for families, however, we missed an opportunity over several decades to also educate our young people in lucrative careers that are in the trade industries. That’s another option for families. Being a part of SNHBA, I’m really proud of our Southern Nevada Trades High School because that’s a perfect example of children in that community being made aware of these career opportunities. It’s truly changing the trajectory of their lives. That’s something I would like more young people to know (that there is) an avenue for them in addition to going to college. Anything we can do as a community to be out there and make more young people aware of these opportunities so we can get these folks into these jobs will be a major asset for the industry.

Q: What are other issues?

A: When it comes to utility and municipal regulations, while SNHBA understands they are well intended and meant to be for the interest of the consumer, we also have to recognize that certain regulations do add costs to homes. SNHBA has been making an effort to ensure strong relationships with the municipalities. We understand that local government is so important to many of the processes that are required for us to build homes, and we think the municipalities along with homebuilders have a common interest to get more Southern Nevadans into homes. The local government piece is also something important over the next six to 12 months that we will continue to work in a collaborative way because that’s very important to the industry.

Q: What else is happening?

A: One of the things under my leadership that’s very important is I think you can get a lot accomplished when you can communicate and work together. The municipalities have been great. I have a special shout out to Clark County. Clark County has been taking some major efforts in working with the homebuilders to collaborate in making their land-use application process seamless. I can tell you a lot of the builders are very appreciative of the work they are doing there in Clark County.

Q: How big a concern is housing affordability?

A: One of the major endeavors for SNHBA is we recognize there are concerns about housing accessibility across the nation, and that obviously that has an impact in Southern Nevada as well. When it’s a prerequisite to make more than $96,000 a year to own a home or $70,000 a year to rent and the average income is $60,000 or below in Southern Nevada, we recognize that’s a concern. There’s no other group of people out there who are more interested in a healthy housing market in Southern Nevada. We have been working closely with key policy makers to identify different policies that can benefit Southern Nevadans being able to get in these homes. That’s a certain priority of ours that we will see now and throughout the session and even beyond.

Q: What is the organization working on at this time?

A: The SNHBA recently approved a comprehensive strategic plan that’s projected to be completed by the end of this year. That’s going to encompass a survey of all 500-plus of our members and going to ensure the leadership of the SNHBA is going in a direction that represents the collaborative voice of the membership. It’s going to include focus groups for our subcontractors and trades. It’s going to include focus groups that are community partners and stakeholders, local governments and government officials so we can see their feedback on the work we are doing. We’re going to also collaborate with Home Aid so that we are all aligned with our goals and objectives. We’re going to look at our mission vision statement and everything else that is tied to moving the organization forward. This is going to be beneficial because it will serve as a road map for the industry’s future but also provide a strong outline of the organization before we go into the legislative session (in 2025 in Carson City).

Q: What should people know about the organization?

A: The SNHBA has a very strong board that’s interested in not only building communities, but they care about the communities in which they build because they are either home-grown Southern Nevadans or have been here 30-plus years. They have families that have grown up here and truly have a vested interest in the success of Southern Nevada. They are also advocating (at the corporate level) to continue to have investments put back into our community.

Q: How is your first six months in the position going?

A: It’s a lot to learn because it’s an entirely new industry. I am 100 percent dedicated and razor-sharp focused on learning. For me, that’s been a challenge and exciting. The more I learn about the industry the more proud I am to represent the industry. It’s definitely an exciting space to be a part of. There’s a lot of challenges ahead of us just because of interest rates and cost of homes and cost of living. I’m definitely energized and up for the challenge and still at the point where I think I can change the world. I’m going to give it my all.