New-home sales in Sugar Land’s Telfair community are up 12% for the first nine months of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. A total of 347 new homes were sold in Telfair during the first three quarters of 2009. That compares to 313 new homes sold during the same time last year in the 2,018-acre master-planned community. Increased sales to existing Sugar Land residents helped Telfair achieve its sales increase in an overall market where sales are generally down, according to Heather Gould, marketing director for Newland Communities. “Local Sugar Land move-up sales have increased to fully 50 percent of our overall new-home sales in Telfair,” Gould said. “Sugar Land residents love the area and want to stay there, but much of the existing local housing stock is nearly 20-30 years old. Local buyers recognize that Telfair offers the opportunity to move up to a new home with today’s open floor plans and Energy Star efficiency technologies, inside the City of Sugar Land.” Gould said Telfair has also benefited from the attention surrounding the new Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land, which opened earlier this month in a historic Telfair building donated by Newland Communities. Telfair was also buoyed this summer when the Texas Education Agency gave its top accreditation rating – exemplary – to its onsite Cornerstone Elementary School, part of the Fort Bend Independent School District. A total of 697 new homes were sold in Telfair in the first three quarters of 2009, compared to 643 new homes sold during the first nine months of 2008. Telfair is located on U.S. 59 South, with the main entrance at University Boulevard, just south of State Highway 6. Take U.S. 59 south to University Blvd. and turn right. Follow the signs to the Model Home Park. For more information on Partners in Building at Telfair, call Tony Farahani at 281-207-6800, or visit http://www.partnersinbuilding.com/telfair.