Press Release: The Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities, Mid-Year 2019

July 9, 2019

By Rachel Hoeft

Research & Reports Master-Planned Communities

BETHESDA, MD – JULY 9, 2019 – RCLCO Real Estate Advisors released the results of their national survey of the top-selling master-planned communities as of mid-year 2019. Read the full, detailed report online at www.rclco.com/top-selling-master-planned-communities-mid-year-2019

Every year since 1994, RCLCO has conducted a national survey identifying the top-selling MPCs through a rigorous search of high-performing communities in each state. This initiative 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, a means of locating markets with the most significant residential momentum, a process for highlighting the trends affecting communities large and small, and a medium through which to learn development best practices and pass along lessons learned from the MPCs that have pioneered their way into the top ranks.

In this update for mid-year 2019, we surveyed MPCs throughout the country to establish the updated rankings following the release of The Top-Selling Master-Planned Communities of 2018. The ranking of top communities is based on total home sales as reported by each individual community.

In Summary:

Home sales at the nation’s 50 top-selling MPCs exceeded expectations in the first half of 2019, with a pace that indicates the potential for a 10% increase at year’s end compared with 2018.
On average, communities on this year’s list experienced approximately 3% growth in sales over the same time period last year.
Texas, Florida, and California account for 66% of total sales among the 50 top-selling communities, with the share of total top-selling MPC sales in other states decreasing from 38% to 34% since mid-year 2018.
These results appear to validate the sentiments echoed in RCLCO’s Mid-Year 2019 Sentiment Survey, that it is not quite time to stress a downturn. Professionals across the industry were polled about their perspective on the current state of various product types, and most did not yet believe a peak had been reached in the for-sale residential space. Indeed, the sales figures provided by the top-selling master-planned communities in the country would appear to agree with these professionals, as this cycle continues to provide further room to run.

In addition to this semi-annual report, RCLCO prepared an interactive map tool which visualizes the sales at Top-Selling MPCs across the country from 2013 to MY 2019, available online here: https://www.rclco.com/advisory-top-selling-master-planned-communities-interactive-map

Through this visualization tool, it is clear to see that Florida, Texas, and California represent the largest share of home sales among the top-selling communities.

About RCLCO

Since 1967, RCLCO 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 50 years and thousands of projects—touching over $5B of real estate activity each year—RCLCO brings success to all product types across the United States and around the world. RCLCO is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has offices in Los Angeles, Orlando, and Austin.