Sales are up nearly 14% from last year among the Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities in the country, though the second half of 2023 was impacted by elevated interest rates and strong, but slowing, employment growth.
ORLANDO, FL., January 4, 2024 —
Real estate consulting firm RCLCO has released the results of their semi-annual survey of the top-selling master-planned communities (MPCs) of 2023. RCLCO’s ranking is based on total new home sales as reported by each individual community, and establishes updated rankings from the mid-year report. RCLCO has been performing these extensive surveys of the nation’s MPCs since 1994, marking this as the 30th edition of their report which has become an industry standard for monitoring the overall health of the housing market.
Key takeaways from this year’s results include:
- New home sales among the 50 Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities increased by nearly 14% in 2023 compared to the sales of 2022’s Top-50 MPCs.
- With a lack of resale home inventory, and builders willing to offer incentives, new homes in MPCs have remained attractive to homebuyers despite elevated interest rates throughout the year, and strong but gradually slowing employment growth.
- Although up year-over-year, sales in the second half of 2023 were about 15% lower for the Year-End Top-50 communities compared to the top-ranking communities released in RCLCO’s Mid-Year report. This was due, in part, to somewhat lower overall employment growth in the second half of the year, mortgage rates peaking at 7.8% in October, and slower economic growth in Q4 2023.
- The Villages active-adult community is once again the top-selling community in the nation with 3,029 sales.
- Sarasota, Florida’s Lakewood Ranch claimed the number two spot overall, and is the top-selling multi-generational community in the country, with 2,187 sales, an impressive 18% increase over last year.
- Sunterra in Katy, Texas earned the third-place rank with 1,293 sales in 2023, a whopping 63% increase over 2022.
- The Houston MSA was the top-performing metropolitan area with 11 communities in the Top-50, representing nearly 7,900 sales, or 22% of all sales among top-ranked MPCs.
- The state of Florida represented about 40% of sales among top-ranked communities, followed by Texas at nearly 36%. Five of the Top-10 communities in the nation are in Florida.
RCLCO Principal Karl Pischke notes, “Master-Planned Communities, as a key segment of the broader U.S. housing market, saw an uptick in new home sales following the lows of 2022, in part buoyed by a lack of resale inventory and the ability for homebuilders to offer incentives to attract homebuyers. The second half of the year saw almost 15% fewer homes sold among Top-Ranked MPCs than those ranked in RCLCO’s Mid-Year report, due to a number of factors that likely included somewhat lower overall employment growth in the latter part of the year, mortgage rates peaking at 7.8% in October, and slower economic growth in the fourth quarter.”
RCLCO Managing Director Gregg Logan observes that “despite minor slowing in the second half of the year, the total volume of sales realized by the top communities over the past several years has reached levels not experienced since before the mid 2000’s, prior to the great financial crisis. MPC sales, as distinct from the overall new home sales market, have the advantage that there is more demand than supply – more consumers want a home in a master planned community than there are homes in MPC’s to meet that demand, according to RCLCO consumer research.”
RCLCO’s expectation is that as mortgage rates gradually come down in 2024, the pace of new home sales in MPC’s will increase, more so in the second half of 2024, since slower economic growth in the first part of the year may initially dampen sales. Demographic tailwinds are another reason for optimism for the broader new home market overall, and particularly in relation to the market for homes in MPC’s, whose diverse housing products and amenities are particularly attractive to new homebuyers. RCLCO’s extensive research into Master-Planned Communities over the last three decades has shown that master-planned communities provide an additional level of insulation from broader market trends.
RCLCO’s Top-Selling MPC Report initiative, now in its 30th year, exists not only as a way to commend the most successful communities in the country, but also as a tool for monitoring the overall health of the for-sale housing industry, and a means of highlighting the trends affecting communities large and small. This process also serves as a mechanism through which to learn development best practices and pass along lessons gleaned from the MPCs that have pioneered their way into the top ranks.
About RCLCO
Since 1967, RCLCO Real Estate Consulting has been the “first call” for real estate developers, investors, public institutions, and non-real estate companies seeking strategic and tactical advice regarding property investment, planning, and development. RCLCO leverages quantitative analytics platforms and a strategic planning framework to provide end-to-end business planning and implementation solutions at an entity, portfolio, or project level. With the insights and experience gained over 55 years and thousands of projects, RCLCO brings success to all product types across the United States and around the world. RCLCO is organized into three overlapping and reinforcing service areas: real estate economics, management consulting, and advisory services for institutional investors through RCLCO Fund Advisors. RCLCO is headquartered in Bethesda, MD, and has offices in Los Angeles, CA, Orlando, FL, Austin, TX, and Denver, CO.
Media Contact
Rachel Hoeft
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E: rhoeft@rclco.com
