Irvine Ranch Shake-Up

 New Home Co. has long been a top builder of choice for Irvine Pacific, the in-house homebuilding arm of Irvine Co.
That’s changing as the area’s largest landowner phases out its fee-building business.
“With the larger role Irvine Pacific was playing in homebuilding on the Ranch, it was timely to bring this portion of the business in-house,” said Dan Hedigan, Irvine Pacific’s president of homebuilding.
A total of 850 homes were reported to have sold on The Irvine Ranch last year.
While down from 1,000 the year prior, it still earned the No. 14 spot on the John Burns Real Estate Consulting list.
Hedigan said that while Irvine’s schools, parks and public safety are top demand drivers for The Irvine Ranch, buyers last year showed a “continued and expanded preference for Irvine’s open spaces.”
“Most new-home opportunities on The Irvine Ranch are in the northern portion of the city—namely in the villages of Eastwood, Portola Springs and Orchard Hills,” said Hedigan, noting that communities on the Ranch benefit from connectivity to the adjacent 20,000-acre Northern Open Space Preserve.
“This connection to the outdoors is what buyers have always valued about living on The Irvine Ranch, but it came into greater focus in 2020.”
Irvine Pacific is expected to build homes under its own umbrella moving forward, with nearly 300 home deliveries planned per year for the near future, sources indicate.  
The Irvine Ranch has been the bestselling master-planned community on the West Coast over the past decade, but was eclipsed last year by Ontario Ranch, an 8,200-acre community led by DR Horton and Brookfield.
Timing for The Irvine Ranch’s build-out “will be determined by the overall housing market,” Hedigan said.
“We continue to move forward with the master plan with plenty to look forward to.”