Mountain’s Edge is nation’s top-selling master plan

The latest reckoning of the nation’s top-selling master plans contained two surprises.

First, despite a dismal housing market, a Las Vegas community managed to claim the No. 1 spot in 2008. Second, the city’s biggest planned community, the 22,500-acre Summerlin, missed the list for the first time, as its developers didn’t submit sales data to the Maryland consulting firm that compiles the best-seller roster.

Mountain’s Edge, a 3,500-acre master plan Focus Property Group is developing in southwest Las Vegas, took the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive year, while Summerlin, which spent more than a decade parked in the top spot through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, was a no-show in 2008.

As for Mountain’s Edge’s top rank, Gadi Kaufmann, managing director and chief executive officer of list-maker Robert Charles Lesser & Co., said he wasn’t surprised. Las Vegas remains a strong market with a good growth economy, he said, and Mountain’s Edge is a “well-conceived product” with prices beginning in the $100,000s. Those prices compete well with foreclosure homes, Kaufmann noted.

“The housing market in Las Vegas is certainly going through major turmoil, but a well-executed, master-planned community is always more desirable for people looking to buy a new home,” Kaufmann said.

Mountain’s Edge held fast to No. 1 despite a 49 percent drop in sales. The master plan closed on 879 homes in 2008, down from 1,740 homes in 2007. Still, Mountain’s Edge handily bested sales of the nation’s No. 2 community, Houston’s Cinco Ranch. Mountain’s Edge closed on 13.4 percent more units than did Cinco Ranch.

Focus is also developing the only other local master plan on the list. Providence, in northwest Las Vegas, closed on 514 sales, pushing the 1,200-acre community from No. 5 in 2007 to No. 4 in 2008.

The two communities’ strong showings contrast with the struggles of two other local Focus developments. In September, Wachovia foreclosed on 1,700 acres Focus had planned to develop near Kyle Canyon in northwest Las Vegas, and homeowners at its Inspirada master plan in Henderson have complained of a big slowdown in the construction of homes, shopping centers and other amenities there.

“The economy has taken its toll on the home-building industry, particularly in the (Southwest United States), but this survey underscores that buying homes in great master plans holds strong appeal for those interested in the long-term value,” said John Ritter, chairman and chief executive officer of Focus Property Group. “We’re pleased that Mountain’s Edge and Providence have performed relatively well during these tough economic times.”

Kaufmann said Focus Property Group’s emphasis on eco-friendly development helped its communities post solid sales. His firm’s research shows that customers increasingly want environmentally sensitive homes. Focus builds its communities to use 25 percent less water than other similar master plans, Ritter noted.

“We have found that living in a community that respects the environment — especially one that is water-smart in our desert climate — is something that’s highly important to home buyers and their families,” Ritter said.

Offering a wide variety of floor plans and home types, as well as working with a sizable number of different builders, also helps communities sell well, Kaufmann added. Mountain’s Edge has 17 builders, while the smaller Providence has 12 builders.

Executives with The Howard Hughes Corp., which is developing Summerlin, wouldn’t disclose the community’s sales numbers to the Review-Journal. And General Growth Properties, the bankrupt mall developer that owns The Howard Hughes Corp., doesn’t break down its financial results to reflect sales at Summerlin.

Kevin Orrock, top division executive for The Howard Hughes Corp., said Summerlin’s sales would have placed the master plan among the country’s 10 best-selling communities in 2008, but he added that sales aren’t the most important factor in a development’s success.

“We feel there is much more to consider than simple sales figures in ranking master-planned communities,” Orrock said. “While they are important, it is the comprehensive community, which is planned and built around the individual homes, that truly sets the best master-planned communities apart. Summerlin’s unparalleled range of amenities is at least as important as sales rates.”

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.