Again this year, Warmington made Professional Builder’s annual list of Housing Giants, ranking 92 of 245 of the largest builders in the country based on 2017’s housing revenue and closings.
Professional Builder said “affordability and staying nimble” will be top of mind for the nation’s Housing Giants in the coming year. Moreover, that we must “seek economies of scale, operation efficiencies and downsized designs” all in an effort to make homes more affordable.
This is good news for Warmington Residential. By being nimble and adaptable, we’ve found a niche entitling and/or building infill projects in the Los Angeles area. Utilizing the Small Lot Ordinance (SLO), we have been very successful finding new opportunities and offering products and price points that have appealed to buyers in this market, while meeting the exceedingly stringent requirements set forth by the city.
The SLO allows the development of underutilized land into fee simple homes in the city of Los Angeles. Intended as infill development and a smart-growth alternative to traditional, suburban style single-family subdivisions, small lot homes have smaller lot areas with compact building footprints and reduced yard setbacks, street frontages, passageways between buildings, and open space. All SLO subdivisions must comply with a set of specific guidelines set forth by the City of L.A.
While not without its challenges, Warmington continues to target and find success in acquiring new SLO opportunities in L.A. as well as other infill, redevelopment and traditional opportunities in the surrounding submarkets and areas where we have previously done business and understand the local buyers’ preferences. This strategy allows us to utilize our existing subcontractor base and leverage our relationships with the local agencies and municipalities.
In more traditional and suburban settings, we are finding that buyers are embracing an urban-living inspired floorplan (e.g. three-level with or without a roof deck) which we first introduced at our Trellis at Esencia community in Rancho Mission Viejo in 2015. We learned from that success and implemented a similar design concept in multiple locations throughout Southern and Northern California. We have proven that buyers embrace this style of living when the design and price point are right.
Heading into the second half of 2018 and looking forward to 2019, Warmington will continue to seek new entitlement opportunities and introduce new communities in undersupplied markets where most opportunities for new housing allow for only 20 to 25 dwelling units per acre. This density typically dictates a three story SLO, condominiums or fee simple townhomes. This will include several new markets including Mountain View, South San Francisco, Napa and Santa Rosa in Northern California, among other locations that may include Vista and La Mirada in Southern California. Warmington also is pursuing new land, entitlement, development and redevelopment opportunities in Sacramento and throughout the Central Coast region.
Professional Builder accurately summed up what Warmington knows only too well: Housing Giants face a multitude of conditions to monitor, juggle and act on, across numerous markets and that homebuilding companies nationwide are attempting to find new ways to provide more affordable homes. Collectively as “Giants” and leaders in our industry, we will continue to seek new and better ways to strong and growing demand for new housing.
A Giant Nationally and on Top Locally
Warmington made the list, twice! According to the Orange County Business Journal, Warmington is a Top OC Homebuilder, ranking number 21 of 30. And, we just got the heads up that Warmington will be tops again when the paper publishes its annual Fastest Growing Private Companies list in September.