California based TRI Pointe Group is expanding its Texas footprint by purchasing Dallas-based Dunhill Homes for a reported $60 million. Dunhill Homes operates in the Dallas-Fort Worth market under the Dunhill and Nathan Carlisle Homes brands. Effective January 1st, Dunhill will begin operating under the Trendmaker Homes brand.

Trendmaker Homes was previously part of Weyerhaeuer before the Houston area builder was acquired by TRI Pointe several years ago. Trendmaker builds a number of affordable luxury homes in the Houston and Austin markets.

With the absorption of Dunhill Homes, TRI Point will acquire Dunhill’s assets, and more importantly, the 1500 lots which are owned or controlled by Dunhill for entry into the Dallas Fort Worth real estate market. Even with the recent slowdown, DFW is still the nation’s largest market for residential home construction.

With a heavy footprint in the California market TRI Pointe Group sells new homes with an average price north of $600,000. I can only assume that the TRI is looking to diversify into additional markets with slightly lower average prices, so Dallas-Fort Worth would be a likely fit. I sold a number of Trendmaker homes in the Houston market, and I like their product. The introduction of Trendmaker into the Dallas-Fort Worth new home market is good news for prospective buyers.

Dunhill Homes is currently building throughout the DFW area with new home communities in Denton, Little Elm, Frisco, Prosper, Fort Worth and a few communities east of Dallas. TRI Pointe Group stock is down roughly 35 percent year-to-date, in line with most of the major publicly-traded home builders.

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