New Construction vs. Resale in Ankeny and Waukee, Iowa

New construction or resale in Ankeny or Waukee comes down to three things: your timeline, your tolerance for the building process, and how much you're willing to pay for something nobody has lived in yet. New construction in Ankeny starts around $315,990 for a production home and climbs past $430,000. Resale in the same market typically runs $300,000–$350,000 and gives you keys in two to three months.

You've pulled up two listings on your phone. One is a builder model in a new Ankeny subdivision, clean lines, fresh paint, every finish your choice. The other is a four-bedroom on a street with mature oaks, a negotiable price, and the kind of backyard that took fifteen years to grow in. They're five miles apart and worlds apart.

This question comes up in nearly every buyer conversation we have for these two suburbs. And the answer is never automatic, because the suburbs themselves are not the same, the product is not the same, and the money math is definitely not the same.

Here's what we tell buyers who are working through it.

What does new construction cost in Ankeny and Waukee?

The number that attracts buyers is the base price. The number that matters is the finished price.

In Ankeny, production builders are starting communities like Kimberley Crossing from $315,990 and Canyon Landing from $324,990. Centennial Estates pushes into higher price ranges, with homes from $355,000 to $430,000. The Crossing at Deer Creek keeps most options under $400,000 and has both quick move-in and build-to-order plans. Heritage Park at Prairie Trail sits near an established trail and green space network. Active builders in Ankeny right now include D.R. Horton, Jerry's Homes, Sage Homes, Genesis Homes, Greenland Homes, Harvest Ridge Builders, Redwood Builders, Benson Orth, and Kimberley Development. There are more than 153 active new construction communities in Ankeny alone.

Waukee runs higher. Townhomes at Painted Woods West start around $238,000, while single-family homes in the same community range from $340,000 to $397,000. Stratford Crossing sits between $460,000 and $575,000. At Castle Ranch, you are looking at $750,000 and up. Waukee lots tend to run 70 to 85 feet wide, with more daylight and walkout basement opportunities than comparable Ankeny parcels. Lot sizes at some communities range from roughly 8,450 to 31,352 square feet depending on the phase and placement.

Resale in Ankeny typically lands between $300,000 and $350,000 to purchase, with $5,000 to $25,000 in immediate repairs being common depending on age and condition. That cost often surprises buyers who compare only the sticker prices.

Upgrade packages in new construction are where the base price becomes a different number entirely. Granite counters, a finished basement, an extra bath, upgraded trim, a taller garage door. Each is a line item on a builder allowance sheet, and the model home you fell in love with is almost never what the base price buys. Budget $50,000 or more in upgrades as a working assumption and adjust from there once you see the actual allowance breakdown.

How long does new construction take, and what slows it down in Iowa?

The range is 8 to 12 months from signed contract to keys, and the average sits closer to 10 months. That breaks down into two phases.

If your timeline is six months or less, new construction is a difficult promise to keep.

Material costs in 2026 are also adding pressure. Lumber tariffs are running about 2%, and cabinet tariffs have climbed 25%. Most builders have absorbed these into their base pricing, but some are adjusting finish allowances instead. If the model home you toured had a specific cabinet line you expected, confirm in writing that it is still part of the allowance before you sign.

Resale runs on a different clock entirely: 2 to 3 months from offer to keys in most cases. And there is a middle path for buyers in between. Move-in-ready spec homes are available throughout Ankeny. Kimberley Crossing had 15 finished or near-finished homes available as of mid-2026. These carry the newness advantage without the full wait.

What can you negotiate with a builder vs. a traditional seller?

With a traditional seller, the negotiation is wide open. Price, closing costs, repairs discovered after inspection, possession date, and in some cases personal property. Every piece is on the table, and an experienced agent knows which levers matter most in this market.

With a builder, price is almost always the last thing they will move. What they flex on is upgrades and costs. A builder may credit you $10,000 toward your choice of finishes, include a finished basement as an incentive, or cover a portion of your closing costs through their preferred settlement agent. Some communities offer more flexibility later in a phase, when the builder is motivated to sell the remaining lots before opening the next section.

The contract itself is different from what you will see on a resale. Builder contracts are not the DMAAR Universal Purchase Agreement you would use on a traditional purchase. They are builder-drafted documents with terms that favor the builder, and the language around cancellation, delay, and allowance changes is not always buyer-friendly. Have someone read it who is not selling you the house before the deposit clears.

For earnest money in Iowa, builder contracts typically require a larger deposit than a resale transaction and come with tighter cancellation terms. Understanding what is refundable and under what conditions matters before you write the check.

Some builders also encourage using their preferred lender and attach incentives to doing so. We have no position on which lender is right for your situation, but we recommend having an independent conversation before committing to a builder-preferred option.

Which suburb fits your budget and timeline?

Ankeny's strength in the new construction market is volume. More builders, more communities, more price points, and more move-in-ready inventory for buyers who want the newness without the full wait. As of Q2 2026, the Des Moines metro had 734 active new construction listings, and Ankeny holds a significant portion of the affordable end of that inventory.

Heritage Park at Prairie Trail sits near an established trail network. The Crossing at Deer Creek keeps pricing under $400,000. Canyon Landing offers townhome-style entry points. Trestle Ridge and Grand Ridge bring multiple builders to the same area for buyers who want options within a single neighborhood. If your budget is closer to $325,000 and your timeline is flexible but not unlimited, Ankeny has more options to work with.

Waukee leans toward larger lots and higher price ceilings. The wider lot standard means more space between homes and more opportunities for daylight and walkout basements, which tend to hold resale value in the Des Moines market. Painted Woods West covers a range of budgets within a single community, from townhomes to single-family. Stratford Crossing serves buyers stepping up past $460,000. If lot width and basement configuration matter as much as price per square foot, Waukee is worth the additional cost and the additional drive to the west side.

Resale offers a third path in both suburbs. You are buying something someone already lived in, which means mature landscaping, established infrastructure, and, often, a seller who has flexibility on price and terms that no builder ever will.

New Construction vs. Resale: Side-by-Side Comparison

The table shows the financial comparison. The sentence the table cannot hold is this: the right answer depends entirely on how much time you have, how much uncertainty you can sit with, and whether what you are buying is a home or a plan for one.

The model home you fell in love with is almost never what the base price buys.

Russ and Tammy walked into the first house and liked it immediately. It was new construction, still owned by the builder, and the layout was close but not quite what they pictured. They figured they should see more before committing to something that size, so they kept going. Resale homes in the same range. Other new construction communities. After everything they toured, they kept coming back to that first house.

What made the deal work was builder motivation, and most buyers never think to look for it. This was not a large production builder, and at 281 days on the market, the home had been sitting long enough that the terms became negotiable in ways a national builder's sales rep would never offer. The builder accepted a subject-to-sale offer, which meant Russ and Tammy could move without abandoning their current home first. And every custom change the buyers had asked about from the beginning, the ones a production builder would have declined without a second thought, got done.

The first house they saw was the right one. It just took looking at everything else to be certain of that.

Frequently Asked Questions