Megatel Homes LLC, one of the largest homebuilders in the state of Texas, today announced the lot acquisition of a 29-acre parcel of land in the Dallas suburb of Mansfield. Once developed, the $40 million residential project, known as Mitchell Farms, will feature 112 single-family homes ranging in size between 1,700 square feet and 4,500 square feet which will be priced between $280,000 to $450,000.

"Despite the challenging economic climate created by the coronavirus pandemic for many real estate sectors, we've found residential real estate to be unwaveringly resilient in this growing market," said Zach Ipour, co-founder. "Many of the top market analysts concur that residential real estate will likely continue to weather the storm, and recent data clearly supports this view."

Industry analysts had predicted a dismal 22-percent decline in sales of new homes following the onset of the pandemic and resulting shelter-in-place and economic shutdown orders. In its most recent report on the market, however, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that new home sales increased nearly one percent in April compared to March.

Matthew Speakman, an economist at Zillow, commented, "The coronavirus pandemic has generated any number of nasty surprises over the past few months, but the unexpected strength in April new home sales may be the first pleasant surprise yet — and the clearest indicator so far that housing, so unlike the last time around, will be a source of relative strength during this downturn." 

For many private homebuilders, tightened lending restrictions amid the pandemic has resulted in a lack of funding, which leads to halted construction, declines in new home starts and difficulty in acquiring new land.

Ipour explains that Megatel has a solution to this challenge in the finance vertical of their company, Megatel Capital Investment. "In homebuilding, how you react during market slowdowns can change everything. We knew our focus needed to be on maintaining a strong deal pipeline. Capital from MCI afforded us the opportunity to reevaluate and renegotiate deals, without struggling to access institutional funding."

The Mansfield suburb remains a highly desirable area for homebuyers due to its strong school system and proximity to large corporate employers, such as Bank of America, Capital One, Infosys, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, and UT Southwestern Medical Center. In recent years, Mansfield has also experienced a substantial influx of corporate relocations. A scarcity of supply coupled with buyers placing even more value on finding a home that represents their sanctuary in the midst of mitigating the COVID-19 virus continues to fuel new home sales.