Mexico's Homex aims to make a splash at the beach

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leading homebuilder, Homex, is constructing beachfront villas and condos in hot spots like Puerto Vallarta in a bid to sell homes to American retirees and vacationers.

The company plans to sell about 100 of the homes this year for between $400,000 and $900,000 in its first push into the expatriate market, Chief Financial Officer Alan Castellanos told Reuters on Friday.

The goal is to tap into a surge in the ranks of American retirees as the baby-boom generation enters its twilight years.

"The baby boomer thing is for real," said Castellanos, speaking at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit.

The plan is a marked change for Homex (HOMEX.MX) HMX.N, which has built a decade of growth on selling small, cheap homes to Mexico's poor.

While the company will keep its focus on mass-produced homes that sell for less than $40,000, its streamlined building techniques could make for good profits in high-end housing, Castellanos said.

Homex has already bought land and obtained building permits in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun and in Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos on the Pacific coast. The three cities are top destinations for U.S. tourists.

"We're not taking any risk on location," Castellanos said.

Construction on the villas and low-rise condos will begin soon, he said.

Mexican laws ban foreigners from owning land close to the coast, but Homex plans to offer the homes under 99-year trusts.

(Reporting by Jason Lange, Noel Randewich, Chris Aspin and Pablo Garibian; Editing by Braden Reddall)