Dozens of visitors walking through model homes still under construction in Davidson at Santaluz gushed over the arched doorways, cozy courtyards, coffered ceilings and super-sized kitchens at the latest community of million-dollar homes in San Diego County.

With a mid-$800,000 starting price and floor plans ranging from 3,802 square feet to 4,673 square feet, builder Davidson Communities expects a quick sell-out of the 71 luxury homes when this newest neighborhood at Santaluz just east of Fairbanks Ranch opens this fall.

Nestled in the San Dieguito Valley, Santaluz continues to be one of the most popular high-end communities in the prestigious Coastal North County. Photo credit: www.smontgomery.com

The good news for Davidson and other builders of such high-end housing developments is there currently is more demand than supply -- especially in North San Diego County.

"The million-dollar-plus market has tripled in the last year," said Alan Nevin, director of economic research for MarketPoint Realty Advisors. "The rate of gain is slowing down but we still have more demand than supply in most market segments."

According to Nevin, a veteran real estate analyst, there were almost 900 sales of homes priced at more than $1 million in San Diego County last year. In contrast, he said there were only 225 million-dollar sales in 1996. And sales so far this year are on pace to meet or exceed that mark.

For the first time, Nevin said the county saw million-dollar homes in the outreaches of Poway and Chula Vista. "But the dominance is still where you might expect it: in coastal North County from La Jolla to Carlsbad."

This strong demand for luxury housing is evident at the Santaluz master-planned golf course community adjacent to Rancho Santa Fe, where in the last 18 months, 158 custom homesites and 393 production homes have sold.

Nearby, D.R. Horton's The Highlands at The Crosby recently sold out 55 homes ranging from 4,611 square feet to 4,900 square feet and priced from $1.3 million.

Nevin said the demand comes for San Diego's base of well-heeled homeowners, such as high-tech executives and highly paid engineers looking to move up, as well as second home buyers from throughout the United States. There is even a fledgling international market eager to park their private yachts in county harbors and their Lear jets at one of the four regional airports.

While Forbes Magazine reports that the overall number of millionaires has been reduced because of the slumping stock market, Nevin said "there's still plenty of people with liquidity because they bailed out of the stock market. That, along with the 30-year low interest rates, is what's driving the million-dollar market," he said.

Quality homes, greater selection

The quality and selection of high-end offerings now available has never been greater, Nevin said.

"For many years, Fairbanks was the only supply of new high-end homes," he said. "Until the last few years, there hasn't been a great selection of homes in the $750,000 to $1.5 million range. Now there are a half-dozen subdivisions of million-dollar in North San Diego County."

He credits builders like Davidson Communities who "opened up the million-dollar-plus merchant built market in the Del Dios corridor."

"Davidson proved you can be a merchant builder of extremely well-designed million-dollar-plus homes," said Nevin, listing Cielo as a standout product. The 1,740-acre hillside village at the eastern end of Rancho Santa Fe will include 528 residences on 1- to 5-acre sites. (Davidson at Cielo is now sold out.)

Another high-end community experiencing brisk sales is The Crosby in the eastern end of the San Dieguito River Valley. Three builders are currently building and selling custom and semi-custom homes at The Crosby, ranging in size from 3,889 square feet to 6,000 square feet, with prices starting at $1.2 million.

Stonefield Development is building the Stonefield Legacy neighborhood of custom turnkey residences priced from $2 million.

California Cove Communities is building two neighborhoods: Tres Vistas and Estrella. Tres Vistas, which debuted this spring at $1.2 million, offers homes that range from 4,219 square feet to 4,282 square feet with three to five bedrooms, up to four baths and three- and four-car garages. Estrella is an enclave of 25 semi-custom homes with three distinct floor plans from 5,573 square feet to 5,900 square feet with prices from $1.3 million. Four custom homes, valued between $2.5 and $6 million, also are under construction at this private, 722-acre golf course community.

Championship golf courses are the common link for many of these pricey North County communities.

At The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe, golf greats such as Tiger Woods, Ernie Ells, Phil Michelson and Sergio Garcia, recently competed at the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed 18 hole championship course during the ABC-televised "Battle at the Bridges."

Custom homesites at the 540-acre development range from $850,000 to $3.2 million, with production and custom homes currently on the market from $1.4 million to more than $5 million. Coming soon to the gated cul-de-sacs is The Cortile Collection, featuring three single-level custom homes on 1.5 acre sites priced between $2.3 million and $3.3 million.

While Rancho Santa Fe remains king of the million-dollar-plus homes, the Route 56 corridor is poised to reign in the next decade. The completion of that key east-west link between Rancho Penasquitos and Interstates 5 near Del Mar, as well as the construction of several private and public schools (including the Jewish Academy and Catholic University High School), will turn this area into "another Carmel Valley."

Nevin cited Torrey Highlands by D.R. Horton, as an exciting project that will offer high-end housing options for move-up residents who want an upscale North County lifestyle complete with superior educational opportunities.

"It's an exciting project with plans calling for roughly 2,600 housing units, 1 million square feet of R&D, two shopping centers and the new Westside High School," said Nevin.

Klassen is a senior account executive at Scribe Communications.