Otay Ranch is on of the top master planned communities in the country. The San Diego community made John Burns Real Estate Consulting's Top 50 Master-Planned Communities of 2019. This year, the community climbed to number eight on the list. The community saw a 27% increase in sales last year, earning them the impressive spot on the list.

"Residents of Otay Ranch enjoy a wonderful location with easy access to employment, quality schools, as well as culinary and entertainment attractions," Melissa Hazlett of developer Baldwin & Sons, tells GlobeSt.com. "But they also enjoy traditional American neighborhoods with numerous amenities including swim club facilities, parks, tot lots, picnic areas and fields for sports. It's a wonderfully welcoming place to live in one of the most desirable markets in California. When you marry these benefits with quality-crafted homes of all types, it becomes a community that families not only choose, but want to remain in. In fact, a good portion of our homeowners at Otay started out in our townhomes and we are starting to see some of them move into our newer single-family homes."

The community climbed two spots on the ranking this year. Several new home options came to the community this year, helping to boost sales. "There is an incredible depth and breadth of new home offerings that can be found at Otay Ranch. From starter, attached townhomes to ultra-lux single-family abodes with the finest in features and finishes, options also include everything in between," says Hazlett. "The floorplan and lifestyle choices here are undoubtedly robust. It is also notable that many are quite affordable for the region's families, many of whom include treasured members of the military. In a region like San Diego County, which is an expensive yet highly desirable place to live, having a variety of options in one location is both attractive and rare."

This year, there are more projects coming to Otay Ranch. "Recent releases at Otay Ranch by Baldwin & Sons include a brand-new phase release in January at Cantamar, a single-family community being built by Pacific Coast Communities. We are currently releasing a new phase at Tosara, a townhome community also being built by Pacific Coast Communities," says Hazlett. "Combined, these new phase releases provide a wide spectrum of buyers with numerous floor plans, styles and amenities to meet a variety of wants, needs and lifestyles."

While the community has been very successful, there are growing challenging for master planned developers. "A continued challenge to builders nationally is the ongoing workforce shortage," says Hazlett. "Building costs also continue to climb. Perhaps one of the challenges, which affect builders closest to home here in California, is the state's steady push toward sustainability. There are undeniable environmental benefits to building sustainably, however high-performance energy efficient materials must continually be sourced as codes intensify, and there are higher costs associated with that."