At a recent presentation made by GU Krueger, Senior VP of IHP Capital Partners (and former Deputy Chief Economist of the California Association of Realtors), Mr. Krueger presented a summary of the Orange County custom lots and custom home market.  I found his summary very interesting and have reformatted it to post here:

ORANGE COUNTY CUSTOM LOT CHOICES:

ORANGE COUNTY CUSTOM HOME CHOICES:

Mr Kruegar was speaking to a group affiliated with the Convenant Hills sales project (Surterre Properties is the exclusive broker for the lot sales).  He made the point that Covenant Hills offers a strong lot value, but that value is less apparent in the Custom Home choices category. 

After seeing the project myself, I would have to agree.  Having sold a custom home in Shady Canyon last year that was listed for $8.5M, I am hard pressed to see the benefits that the custom homes in Covenant Hills have over Shady Canyon custom homes or the production homes at Crystal Cove.  For the same price as a high end Covenant Hills custom home, you can get a comparable product with more land ("the luxury of space" as it was tagged in Irvine Company Advertising) in Shady Canyon, a community with higher perceived prestige and a more coastal location (South of the 405), or you can get a similar sized house possibly with an ocean view and better coastal resale location in Crystal Cove.  It will be interesting to watch the sales progress of the Covenant Hills custom homes.  From my perspective, it will be a challenge.