The Villages, an active adult community in the Orlando area with 2,307 sales, was 2011’s top-selling U.S. Master Planned Community (MPC) according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. The Villages was the top seller in our 2010 survey as well, with 2,208 sales. Other MPC’s in the top five for 2011 included two in the Houston area (Cinco Ranch and The Woodlands), Irvine Ranch in Southern California, and Alamo Ranch in San Antonio. Eight of this year’s 10 top-selling projects were also on the top 10 list last year, with two new additions – Alamo Ranch and Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota.

The following is our ranking of the 50 top-selling U.S. master plans in 2011:

Our rental forecast calls for solid rent growth in the U.S. over the next five years. Western U.S. markets such as Seattle, San Jose/San Francisco, Orange County and San Diego, which generally have high barriers to entry and above average income levels, will be among the nation's top-performing rental markets in coming years.