Thread: Top 50 Master-Planned Communities

January 05, 2018

BUILDER
BURNS REVEALS TOP MASTER PLANS OF 2017

Four MPs post more than 1,000 homes sold.

Real estate consultant John Burns was out late Thursday with his annual look at master planned communities. And it reported that Irvine Ranch, The Villages, Lakewood Ranch, and Summerlin all captured over 1,000 net homes sales in 2017

Sales in a number of western US communities swelled, while many communities in Florida and Texas captured fewer sales as they wind down or face more competition. Texas usually dominates the top 25 ranking, but only Riverstone in Houston and Paloma Creek in Dallas had enough sales this year.

Click here to download the Top 50 MPC Rankings for 2017

Burns contacted 370 master plans—many of which it advises on market, segmentation, amenity, and marketing strategies—to arrive at the ranking. Together, the top 50 masterplans sold 27,580 homes, reflecting a 17% year-over-year increase from 2016. Their combined 2017 sales represent approximately 4.5% of all new home sales nationally.

Among other findings:

• California and Southwest master plans together account for 56% of the 2017 top-selling communities, up from 48% one year ago.
• Southern California master plans represent 24% of the top 25, rising from 16% in 2016.
• The Southwest’s market share jumped to 28% from 24% one year ago.
• Texas captures 8% of our 2017 top 25, dropping from 28% last year.
• Florida’s share rose to 28% from 20% in 2016.

http://www.builderonline.com/builder...lans-of-2017_o

U.S. Needs 4.6 MILLION New Apartments by 2030

We need more affordable 55+ Senior retirement communities.

People will be downsizing...this issue needs to be addressed.

It will also free up housing in family neighborhoods as Senior's move out.

Build more properties like "The Villages" without all the amenities.

Thousands of new 55-plus homes go on sale as aging population boosts demand


11 COMMENTS By JEFF COLLINS | JeffCollins@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED: November 17, 2017 at 2:26 pm | UPDATED: November 17, 2017 at 2:29 pm


The Irvine Company had a 31-acre parcel near the Orange County Great Park that was ideal for new homes, but it was outside the coveted Irvine Unified School District.

Homebuilder CalAtlantic had a perfect solution: Build homes for seniors — folks whose children are no longer in school.

The new 55-plus Travata development officially opens Saturday, Nov. 18, in the Irvine Co.’s Cypress Village development next to the Great Park’s southern boundary.

The 243-home development has three home types and 13 different floor plans, all of them either one story or with major living areas on the bottom floor. They include second-story “flats,” each with their own private elevator. There also are townhomes and houses.

The grand opening is planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 18-19.

But longtime Irvine residents Jack and Maureen Khaw couldn’t wait until then to find out about the new project. The couple turned up at Travata’s construction site on Wednesday to peep at the new homes.

The Khaws lived since 1981 in Northwood, three miles to the west, raising two daughters who now live on their own nearby.

Since then, they’ve seen the value of their home quintuple, from $181,000 to $1 million. But they’re attracted to a 1,900-square-foot, single-story floor plan in Travata.

“It’s newer homes, and it’s all for 55-plus,” said Maureen Khaw, 63.

Demand for age-restricted housing has been soaring as baby boomers enter retirement, prompting more and more homebuilders to build 55-plus communities.

Housing starts on 55-plus homes jumped to 53,000 single- and multi-family units in 2016 from 30,000 in 2012, figures from the National Association of Home Builders show.

“What’s driving the demand is that cohort of the population,” said Idaho homebuilder Dennis Cunningham, chair of the NAHB’s 55-plus Housing Industry Council. “Right now, 10,000 people every day turn 65.”

That number is expected to increase to 15,000 a day by 2020, he added.

There are 78 million baby boomers, plus 32 million people between 72 and 88 — more than 100 million Americans older than 55 but not yet in managed care.

And people are living longer.

The proportion of 55-plus families is projected to rise to 44.5 percent of all U.S. households in 2024, up from 42 percent in 2014, NAHB figures show.

“The data show that close to 50 percent to 60 percent (of senior homeowners) will do some type of relocation, maybe in their same town, maybe from a two-story home, maybe to downsize,” Cunningham said.

A smaller yard, lower property taxes and less maintenance all are incentives for senior homeowners to downsize.

“Lifestyle amenities” like walking clubs, gardening areas and a clubhouse also can be a draw.

“You have a lot of the larger builders either in that market segment or getting into it,” Cunningham said.

CalAtlantic has been expanding its focus on active adult developments, with age-restricted projects making up about a fourth of its developments in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the company said. The firm is building 55-plus homes in 10 states.

Rancho Mission Viejo has focused on the senior homebuyer since launching its Sendero project east of San Juan Capistrano in 2013, with 40 percent of the 940 new homes in its Gavilan neighborhood. It has since included Gavilan homes for seniors in all three phases of its Esencia development nearby. In addition to CalAtlantic, Gavilan developers include Shea, William Lyon and Del Webb Homes. Del Webb also is building two 55-plus projects in Brea’s La Floresta development.

“Our Gavilan neighborhoods continue to draw high demand,” said Rancho Mission Viejo Vice President Dan Kelly.

“They’ve become such a vital part of Rancho Mission Viejo.”

Travata and other Orange County 55-plus developments give seniors the opportunity to downsize while continuing to maintain their local network of family, friends, medical providers and shops, said Elliott Mann, CalAtlantic’s Southern California Coastal Division president.

Others are “trailing parents,” who have children and grandchildren living in Orange County and they want a place of their own nearby.

The Travata homes include one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 1,417 to 2,567 square feet apiece. The one-bedroom units also have dens, and all units have attached garages.

All are designed for aging residents, with wider, wheelchair-accessible doorways, no-step showers and blocking behind drywall for shower grab bars. There’s also a community clubhouse, a lap pool, a gym, pickleball and bocce ball courts and access to Great Park trails.

Prices start above $600,000 for the cheapest units and range up to more than $1 million for the houses.

“They don’t need the homes they stayed in any longer, and they want to stay near family and friends,” Mann said.
Travata is southwest of the intersection of Ridge Valley and Floral View.

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/17...boosts-demand/