Top 10 Home Builders Account for 70% of First-Quarter Sales

Orange County’s larger home builders are grabbing a bigger chunk of the market. The top 10 home builders handled nearly 70% of all Orange County home sales in the first quarter this year, according to MarketPoint Realty Advisors in San Diego. Only two years ago, 49% of the market was controlled by the top 10.

The main reason for the growing disparity between the top sellers and the rest is that several major brokerages have merged. For instance, Lennar Homes acquired Greystone Homes, and Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. bought Lewis Homes recently.

Though some critics believe that fewer builders could lead to fewer choices and higher prices for consumers, Russ Valone, president of MarketPoint, argues the opposite.

“I actually think this will provide more competition,” Valone said. Companies fighting for market share will more likely keep a tighter rein on prices and place more emphasis on design, he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big Builders

Orange County’s 10 largest builders, based on the number of units sold, in the first three months this year:

*--*

Rank Builder Units sold Market share 1 Lennar/Greystone 348 15.9% 2 Shea Homes 177 8.1% 3 Laing Homes 172 7.9% 4 Centex Homes 152 7.0% 5 Standard Pacific 147 6.7% 6 D.R. Horton 135 6.2% 7 S&S; Construction 111 5.1% 8 Kaufman&Broad;/Lewis 109 5.0% 9 California Pacific Homes 107 4.9% 10 Brookfield Homes 72 3.3%

*--*

Source: MarketPoint Realty Advisors