No Splash in the Antelope Valley

The cool winter winds continue to blow through the Antelope Valley residential land submarket as January moves into February.  Homebuilders and investors alike are taking a cautious approach towards the land buying pool and are hesitant to jump in.

Finished lot inventory (which includes both finished and partially finished lots) currently stands at approximately 2,500 units in the Antelope Valley.  Palmdale holds approximately 1,600 of the lots and Lancaster has the remaining 900.  95% of these finished lots are controlled by private investors who are looking at two to three year holds on their land investments.  These investors are waiting for home prices to increase and for homebuilders to return to this submarket before they make their next move.

The Land Advisors “High Desert Team” continues to keep the pulse of deals in the Antelope Valley with two current listings and one escrow.

Source: Michel Faris, Marketing Consultant, (949) 852-8288 x14

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D.R. Horton Hears a Who

While many of the public homebuilders are sitting on the land-buying sidelines this quarter, D.R. Horton hears the call to purchase more land!

Land is scarce in the fictional city of “Whoville” so the D.R. Horton team has taken to several cities in the Inland Empire, and recently closed on transactions in both Eastvale and Chino. 

The Eastvale site consisted of 173 entitled lots just west of the I-15 Freeway. 

Following the mantra of the 1954 book with a similar name, “a deal is a deal no matter how small,” D.R. Horton closed on 43 finished lots in the College Park master planned community. 

In addition, in the first quarter of 2011 Land Advisors assisted D.R. Horton in the acquisition of 53 lots adjacent to California State University – San Bernardino.

2011 TEAM “SB” YEAR IN REVIEW: 

Despite a sluggish market, the San Bernardino Team (Doug Jorritsma & Winn Galloway) participated in several transactions totaling more than $84 million in 2011.  The majority (57%) of transactions was conventional sales; REO’s only accounted for approximately 36% of all transactions.  The Team anticipates the number of REO’s to decline moving into 2012, as many troubled assets have already worked their way through the market. 

On the Buyer side, private investors lead the way totaling 36% of all San Bernardino Team transactions in 2011.  Of the last five transactions, four were purchased by private investors looking for unimproved land for long term hold.   

Echoing the sentiments of the mayor of “Whoville,” “We are here” at Land Advisors to help you with your land needs in 2012.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Source: Doug Jorritsma, Senior Marketing Consultant, (949) 852-8288 x13 and Winn Galloway, Senior Marketing Consultant, (949) 852-8288 x27