Explore Properties at Southern California: Irvine at the Top in Orange County CA New Home Sales

Irvine CA dominates the Orange County CA new homes market.

MarketPointe reported that 1,618 contracts, or 55 percent of all Orange County new home deals, were in Irvine CA last year 2012.

Housing experts credit The Irvine Company for jump-starting Irvine's home building surge with its 2010 New Home Collection, a 685-home project in the Woodbury and Woodbury East developments, west of the former El Toro Marine base.

After the slowest market for builders since World War II, this project put six builders back to work building eight tracts - or "neighborhoods."

The Irvine Company officials say their decision to build - made at the height of the recession in early 2009 - was no gamble. After more than a year of interviewing buyers and reconfiguring homes to meet today's needs, the company determined that Irvine - with top-notch schools, low crime and a lack of homes for sale - would emerge from the recession first.

And that's what happened. The Irvine Co. expected it would take two years to sell all 685 the homes. They sold out in less than half that time. A total of 2,600 sales contracts have been signed since the project was launched three years ago, with 22 "neighborhoods" selling out, company officials said.

The Irvine Company claimed that sales in its developments topped 25 homes a week for 28 weeks last year. Sales topped 30 a week for 16 weeks.

In all, builders opened 1,436 new home escrows The Irvine Company projects in 2012, which is up 93 percent from the year before.

"The economic forces came together for us in 2012," said Tom Veal, the Irvine Co.'s vice president of sales and marketing. "People in 2012 became a little more comfortable with the economy."

__________________________________________________