4 Florida Communities Among Best-Selling in U.S.
Communities in Lake/Sumter/Marion, Brevard, Volusia and Orange/Osceola topped lists for best-selling in the United States.
ORLANDO – Four master-planned communities in Florida made the list of the top 50 in the United States for sale in 2023, according to the Bethesda, Maryland-based RCLCO Real Estate Consulting and Irvine, California-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
- The Villages, which is the region's retirement mega-community that includes portions of Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, topped both lists.
- Viera in Brevard County ranked No. 20 on the John Burns list and No. 24 on the RCLCO list.
- Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach came in at No. 30 for John Burns and No. 34 on RCLCO.
- Sunbridge, which spans Osceola and Orange County near St. Cloud, was No. 45 on John Burns and No. 49 on RCLCO.
The lists base their rankings on the number of home sales, but other criteria constituting a master-planned community are different between the lists.
Sunbridge made its debut on both lists, selling 387 homes in 2023, up 58% year-over-year from 2022. However, the other three communities listed all earned the recognition while experiencing a decrease in new home sales year-over-year.
Latitude Margaritaville sold 546 homes in 2023, down 9% from 601 the year prior; Viera sold 624 homes, down 14% from 722; and The Villages sold 3,029 homes, down 23% from 3,923 in 2022.
Despite a decline in sales, The Villages still outpaced the second best-selling community in the nation — Lakewood Ranch, which sold 2,257 new homes in the Sarasota area — by more than 770 units.
The lists also showed Florida's strength as a destination for such communities, with about 40% of sales among top-ranked communities taking place here, per the RCLCO list — followed closely by Texas, at nearly 37%. Five of the top 10 communities in the nation for both lists are in Florida.
Source: Orlando Business Journal (01/12/24) Ryzewski, Steven
©2024 Smith Bucklin