Orange County’s pool of master-planned communities was no exception, with Irvine in particular enjoying solid demand from buyers over the course of the year.
Irvine Co.’s The Irvine Ranch and FivePoint Holdings LLC’s (NYSE: FPH) Great Park Neighborhoods once again made the John Burns Real Estate Consulting list of the 50 most successful master-planned communities in 2020, ranked by sales.
The two Irvine sites were responsible for 1,380 sales last year, representing nearly 40% of all new home sales in Orange County for 2020 (see list, page 22).
Great Park Neighborhoods, with several new communities under construction, saw a bump in home sales, while activity at The Irvine Ranch, the bestselling master-planned community on the West Coast for the better part of a decade, remained the top area for local sales despite a switch-up in how Irvine Co. approached working with outside builders.
Next Wave Awaits
The region’s third big master-planned community, Rancho Mission Viejo, was absent from this year’s John Burns list as the area approached the sellout of its current stock of homes and prepares to launch land sales for its next large neighborhood, Rienda.
That 2,700-unit community is scheduled to open next year.
Likewise, a number of large projects in Lake Forest, including Baker Ranch, have largely finished sales, and new developments in the city such as the 126-acre former Nakase Nursery site, set to become an 800-home Toll Brothers project, have yet to kick off, limiting sales in that city.
It’s not the worst problem to have, execs at the area’s top landowner said, as buying trends appear poised to continue at least for the next few years.
“Between low interest rates, low supply and a reinforced importance on the home, the housing industry did extremely well last year,” said Paul Johnson, RMV’s executive vice president of community development.
“Orange County continues to look attractive as buyers look for a new home.”
The following are summaries of the 2020 results and 2021 plans for the area’s largest master planned communities.
