Hot sellers / The list: Residential builders

Scarce land didn't stop homebuilders from posting big gains in new-home sales in Orange County last year.

The top 30 homebuilders saw home sales grow 21% to 6,858 in 2002, according to this week's Business Journal list. Homebuilders are ranked by new-home sales data provided by Irvine-based The Meyers Group.

Several newcomers to the list accounted for a big part of the sales gains. Comparing this year's crop of 30 homebuilders to last year's 30 shows a 12% gain in new-- home sales.

The results mark a rebound to 2000 levels for OC homebuilding, which fell 14% in 2001. The reason: a lack of entitled land to build on, not low demand or building concerns.

That changed in 2002, although several factors could slow new-home sales this year, including higher interest rates, a slowdown in the overall housing market and a decline in entitled land.

2002's nimble maneuvering by builders was led by No. 1 Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp.

The company is an aggressive builder, according to Les Whittlesey, a principal of Irvine-based land broker Whittlesey Doyle.

"The recipe for success in places such as The Irvine Ranch and Ladera Ranch is to pick up lots and build houses," Whittlesey said.

Standard Pacific invested with Catellus Residential Group and Starwood Capital Group on the 4,500-home Talega development in San Clemente. The move guaranteed Standard Pacific lots at one of OC's largest projects.

Standard Pacific once again held the top spot for OC homebuilders, selling 836 homes last year, a 57% increase vs. 2001.

"This record-setting year caps a five-year period in which we have tripled our revenues and quadrupled our net income," said Stephen J. Scarborough, Standard Pacific's chairman and chief executive officer.

In all, Standard Pacific counted for some 12.1 % of OC's home sales, according to The Meyers Group.

A key to its gains: Standard Pacific has a strong presence in several OC masterplanned communities, including Talega Gallery in San Clemente, Turnleaf in the hills of Fullerton and Front Street in Ladera Ranch, between San Juan Capistrano and Mission Viejo.

One of Standard Pacific's big moves was to name Todd J. Palmaer, former president of the homebuilder's San Diego arm, as new president of Standard Pacific's OC unit.

Palmaer grew the San Diego market by adding more affordable homes to the mix. He's expected to bring the same aggressive attitude to OC homebuilding.

Standard Pacific wasn't alone in posting homebuilding gains last year.

No. 2 Shea Homes Southern California jumped four spots with one of the largest growth rates among the top homebuilders. It sold 802 homes in 2002, a 108% increase vs. a year earlier. Brea-based Shea Homes is a unit of Walnut-based J.F. Shea Co.

Among Shea's OC projects: 83 homes at the Brea Olinda Ranch. The company also has been active at Ladera Ranch with that development's Berkshire, Atherton Glen and Lexington homes.

No. 3 Lennar Homes California Inc. dropped one rank despite a 20% gain in new-- homes sold to 558. Lennar is among a litany of homebuilders stepping up operations in the Inland Empire where land is plentiful, costs are lower and competition isn't as fierce.

Standard Pacific has three units in the Inland Empire, while Lennar gained a foothold in the area when it bought Riverside-- based homebuilder Pacific Community Homes.

No. 9 Brookfield Homes in Costa Mesa dropped six spots with a 34% decline in homes sold to 366. Like many others, Brookfield had been active at Talega and its Talmedge development in Fullerton's Amerige Heights was a quick seller.

Brookfield recently was named one of four homebuilders at The Irvine Company's high-- profile Crystal Cove development, midway between Newport and Laguna Beach.

It was a big year for Brookfield on the corporate front. Toronto's Brookfield Properties Corp. spun off the homebuilding arm last year, with the now-independent unit based in Del Mar.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Home Corp. made a big splash with the debut of its Irvine unit at No. 11. Pulte sold 204 new homes in OC last year. The homebuilder made its mark with two neighborhoods in Orange's Serrano Heights: Ashbury Ridge and Cambridge Place.

Pulte doubled its OC workforce to 100 as it ramped up operations here. Another company with big employment gains: No. 28 Seal Beach-based The Olson Co., which boosted its OC workers 68% to 101 as it added a couple of projects to its operations here.

The biggest employment decliner was the Irvine unit of No. 20 Richmond American Homes of Denver. Richmond shed 55% of its workers to 69 as it scaled back its projects in the county to one from five a year ago and moved operations to the Inland Empire.

Fifteen homebuilders posted gains in homes sold while 11 showed losses. Four companies sold their first new homes in the county to make the list, including Pulte, No. 15 MBK Homes in Irvine, No. 21 Saddleback Pacific Homes in Newport Beach and No. 30 Heritage Pacific Homes in Carlsbad.

A big project for Tokyo-based MBK, which sold 121 new homes, was Inverness at Vista Del Verde in Yorba Linda. Saddleback Pacific sold 99 homes and Heritage Pacific had 30 sales.

Others joining the list were No. 24 Barratt American, with 64 new-homes sold, and No. 27 Avalon Homes, which sold 48 homes.

Making way for newcomers were several homebuilders that didn't qualify: last year's No. 19 Centerstone Homes in Santa Ana, No. 21 Ryland Homes in Calabasas, No. 25 Pacific Bay Homes in Newport Beach, No. 28 Citation Homes in Irvine and No. 30 Brandywine Development Corp. in Santa Ana.

Last year's No. 29 Costa Mesa-based Compass Homes dropped off the list after abandoning developments at Yorba Linda Estates in Yorba Linda and Hewes Estates in Orange. The company's owner, Timothy Roberts, is mired in an investigation into how money homebuyers paid for upgrades was allegedly diverted to his own accounts.