Lakewood Ranch Ranked a Top 10-Selling Community in the United States

California-based John Burns Consulting has ranked Lakewood Ranch as one of the top selling master planned communities in the United States with 391 new home sales in 2011. Coming in at number nine, Lakewood Ranch outpaced many other well-established and iconic communities such as Stapleton in Denver, Summerlin in Las Vegas and more.

“With our new sports campus, new commercial construction this year totaling upwards of $150 million and new rental projects springing up, we’re proud that Lakewood Ranch has become the premier new home destination on Florida’s West Coast,” said Rex Jensen, president and CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc., the developer of Lakewood Ranch. “That is definitely translating into more visitors, which in turn means more sales.”

Lakewood Ranch saw record-breaking numbers of visitors to its information centers and models during the fourth quarter of 2011, helping to drive last year’s new home sales.  In the fourth quarter of 2011, close to 7,000 people visited Lakewood Ranch models and information centers.

“We have something truly special here.  We have taken bold steps to drive the economy, which has in turn driven home sales, job creation and has helped us remain a small market leader in residential and commercial projects,” Jensen said.

This is the second year for John Burns Real Estate Consulting's ranking of top-selling U.S. master plans. Last year, Lakewood Ranch was ranked number 14.  More than 130 communities across the U.S. were included in the study, representing nearly 23,000 new home sales during 2011, or nearly 7.6 percent of the estimated 300,000 new U.S. home sales in 2011. The full report with the top 50 rankings can be found at www.realestateconsulting.com.

Lakewood Ranch is the 8,500-acre award-winning master-planned community in Sarasota and Manatee counties on the West Coast of Florida. Just minutes from the Gulf Coast beaches and cultural assets in Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch is already home to more 15,000 residents and features A-rated schools, a hospital, the Sarasota Polo Club, a 75-acre sports complex, its own Main Street with theaters, shopping and dining and four million square feet of commercial property. For more information visit www.lakewoodranch.com.