Best 55+ Markets for New Construction

This Guide Is About Active Construction, Not Resale

Most "best 55+ markets" research treats a metro as one thing. It isn’t. Inside almost every major active-adult market on this site, some communities are decades old and effectively resale-only — Sun City and Sun City West in Phoenix, for example, stopped selling new homes long ago — while a handful of newer sections a few miles away still have a working sales office, a design center, and unsold lots. This guide is specifically about the second category: the communities where you can still buy from the builder, choose your finishes, and pick which lot you want.

That distinction matters because the buying process, the cost structure, and the risks are genuinely different from a resale purchase. If you’re weighing new construction against an established, fully-built-out community instead, see our companion research on established resale markets — the trade-offs run in the opposite direction.

The Real Advantages of Buying New Construction

• A builder warranty on everything. New homes typically carry a structural warranty plus shorter-term coverage on systems and workmanship — protection a 20-year-old resale home in an established Sun Belt community simply doesn’t have.
• Design center customization. Buying during active phases means selecting your own floor plan, cabinetry, flooring, and finish package before the home is built — rather than inheriting a prior owner’s choices and budgeting for a renovation.
• The ability to pick your lot. Corner lot, cul-de-sac, golf-course frontage, distance to the amenity center — early-phase buyers get first choice of what’s left on the plat map, before the best lots are gone.
• The newest amenity standards. A community still under construction is being built to the builder’s current amenity playbook — pickleball courts, resort-style pools, and clubhouse programming reflect what buyers want today, not what a builder thought buyers wanted in 1998.

The Real Disadvantages — Said Honestly

• Construction noise and dust while later phases finish. If you move into an early phase of a community with several more phases planned — Kissing Tree in San Marcos, Texas is planned for roughly 3,200 homes total — you may live next to active construction traffic, framing crews, and unfinished lots for years.
• HOA fees that haven’t stabilized. Some newer communities list an HOA fee as an estimate or "TBD" until enough homes are sold and turned over to a resident-controlled board — Del Webb at Sweetwater near Austin is a real example of a community where the HOA figure is still being finalized. An early, developer-set fee is not guaranteed to hold once the community is fully built and the reserve study catches up to reality.
• Buying based on renderings, not finished amenities. Communities actively marketed around a not-yet-built clubhouse, golf course, or resort pool are selling a promise. If the amenity center is phase three of five and you’re buying in phase one, you may pay full HOA dues for years before the thing you bought into actually opens.

Seven Markets Where Builders Are Still Actively Selling

Every community named below is documented as actively selling or under active construction on that market’s Nova55Living hub page — not inferred from a builder press release. Prices and fees are pulled directly from those pages; treat ranges as illustrative and verify current pricing with the builder before you tour.

Builder names marked "(verify)" were not explicitly stated on the source market hub page and should be confirmed directly with the community’s sales office.

Questions to Ask the Builder Rep Before You Sign

A builder’s sales office is set up to sell the vision of the finished community. These are the questions that separate the vision from what you’re actually buying today.

1. Which amenities are delivered right now, and which are still planned? Ask for the actual completion status of the clubhouse, pools, and fitness center — not the site plan. If the resort pool is a rendering, ask for a firm completion date in the purchase contract, not a verbal estimate.
2. Is the quoted HOA fee an introductory or teaser rate? Some early-phase HOA figures are developer-subsidized or based on an incomplete reserve study. Ask directly whether the number you’re being quoted is the stabilized long-term fee or a temporary rate that will rise once the community turns over to resident control.
3. What is the full build-out timeline for the entire community — not just your phase? If you’re buying into phase one of a five-phase, several-thousand-home community, ask how many years of active construction, truck traffic, and unsold inventory you should expect as a neighbor.
4. When does the developer hand control of the HOA board to residents? Understand what changes — assessments, reserve funding, amenity priorities — once residents rather than the builder are setting the budget.
5. Are there planned special assessments to complete unfinished amenities? Ask explicitly whether the base HOA fee is expected to cover the remaining build-out of amenities, or whether a special assessment is anticipated.
6. Is the model home built with standard or upgraded finishes? Design center upgrades can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price shown on the model. Get the base-spec price in writing before you fall in love with the model home’s countertops.

Explore Each Market in Full

Every market above has a complete Nova55Living research hub with real HOA figures, tax comparisons, and community-by-community detail.