
| 8 CEO SHAREHOLDER LETTER SUMMERLIN When I became CEO of The Howard Hughes Corporation near the depth of the housing recession in 2010, Summerlin had just $11 million of revenues. At its peak, Summerlin generated $260 million of annual revenues. Because of this potential, we dubbed Summerlin the Sleeping Giant, and in 2013, this Sleeping Giant awoke. Summerlin generated $112 million of land sales in 2013 compared with $32 million in 2012, and the average price per superpad acre increased to $323,000 from $226,000 in 2012. In 2013, Summerlin sold 157 finished lots, nine superpads (totaling 257 acres) and 12 custom lots. At December 31, 2013, Summerlin had ten active subdivisions containing 290 lots, down from 13 at the end of 2012. Summerlin’s new home sales increased to 589 in 2013 from 471 in 2012. Kevin Orrock, President of Summerlin, and his team are energized by the recovery of this market and growing demand for land in Summerlin. Our patience paid off and now our community is once again blossoming as the premier community where homebuilders want to build. In 2013, median new home sales prices in the Las Vegas Valley increased approximately 37% over the prior year. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, resale inventory at the end of 2013 represented 2.8 months of inventory, less than half the six month supply of a normal market. Visitors to the Las Vegas strip were 39.7 million, just shy of the 2012 record. Construction activity is also on the upswing, with almost $8 billion of investment proposed or under construction in Las Vegas. To give some context to the rebound in values at Summerlin, in 2010 we took an impairment charge against the approximately 2,000 acres in Summerlin South. The $203 million fair value determined at that time for accounting purposes was computed using a discounted cash flow model containing projected future sales prices and costs to deliver parcels to homebuilders. In the second half of 2013, we sold superpads for an average of approximately $365,000 per acre. Our model from 2010 did not assume we would reach this price until 2025, so from a pricing standpoint we are 12 years ahead of our assumptions in the 2010 valuation model. You may remember from our Chairman’s letter in 2011, Bill Ackman stated “small changes in assumptions on discount rates, lot pricing and sales velocity, inflation etc. can have an enormous impact on fair value.” Calculating the positive impact of pricing increases and sales velocity would dramatically change the carrying value of Summerlin, but under GAAP accounting, we do not “write up” assets if they increase in value, we only write them down if we believe we cannot recover our book value from the future cash flows we expect to receive from the property. In light of the recent rapid increase in sales prices, one might ask whether we are approaching peak pricing in Summerlin, but we believe we are far from it. The following chart shows historical annual superpad sales and price per acre for superpads. We are now at 2003/2004 pricing levels and one-third of the peak. We also believe that the creation of a downtown in Summerlin will have a substantial positive impact on land values. We believe the future is very bright for Summerlin. As the Las Vegas economy continues its recovery, we expect Summerlin to further differentiate itself as the top MPC in the region. Summerlin, which is equipped with the best amenities of any MPC in the Las Vegas market, is adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and has neighborhoods connected by a 150-mile trail network. The community also boasts the best public and private schools in the state. Eleven out of the 12 public schools in Summerlin received one of two top scores according to the Nevada Department of Education’s 2013 statewide assessment. I believe that anything really worth doing, whether in life or in business, requires persistence and perseverance. Staying the course means having the necessary foresight, capital and, most importantly, courage to stick to your plan. The Shops at Summerlin in Downtown Summerlin was an abandoned mall site that our predecessor had invested over $150 million in infrastructure before suspending construction during the financial crisis. It had an all-star line-up of tenants and if previous management had the capital and courage to stay the course, despite how badly Las Vegas was -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 $7,042 $12,505 $83,191 $26,116 $14,657 $81,266 $54,936 $67,122 $60,621 $72,754 $24,372 $65,176 $37,635 $108 $160 $169 $170 $203 $289 $822 $720 $1,059 $973 $0 $226 $323 $90,000 $1,200 $1,000 $800 $600 $400 $200 $- $- $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 SALES (THOUSANDS) PRICE PER ACRE (THOUSANDS) HISTORICAL SUPERPAD SALES SUMMERLIN SUPERPAD SALES |