55Places.com on Wednesday named Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach, Florida the most popular active adult community in the U.S. It was followed on the 100 most popular active adult communities for 2018 by On Top of the World in Ocala, Florida and Sun City Hilton Head in Bluffton, South Carolina.
To identify the most popular active adult communities in America for the past year, 55Places.com compiled various data points between May 2017 and April 2018, including unique pageviews, home-buyer inquiries, and community reviews.
After Minto Communities and Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Holdings announced in February 2017 that Latitude Margaritaville would be the first active adult community to be inspired by Buffett's music and lifestyle, interest skyrocketed quickly. No active adult community received more pageviews on 55Places.com during this timeframe and it received four times as many inquiries as any other community.
Florida was well-represented on the list with four communities in the top ten and eight in the top twenty. The Villages, which topped this list every year between 2013 and 2017, slipped to No. 7 overall. Solivita in Kissimmee followed right behind at No. 8. The only other state to land two communities in the top ten was New Jersey, with No. 6 Holiday City at Silverton and No. 10 Holiday City at Berkeley, both in Toms River. According to 55Places.com data, approximately one out of every three potential buyers who inquired about Holiday City at Silverton ended up purchasing a home.
55Places.com's Most Popular Active Adult Communities for 2018:
- Latitude Margaritaville - Daytona Beach, FL
- On Top of the World - Ocala, FL
- Sun City Hilton Head - Bluffton, SC
- Sun City Texas - Georgetown, TX
- Brunswick Forest - Leland, NC
- Holiday City at Silverton - Toms River, NJ
- The Villages, FL
- Solivita - Kissimmee, FL
- Sun City Shadow Hills - Indio, CA
- Holiday City at Berkeley - Toms River, NJ
The most popular active adult communities by state include Latitude Margaritaville (Florida), Holiday City at Silverton(New Jersey), Sun City (Arizona), Sun City Shadow Hills (California), Sun City Hilton Head (South Carolina), Brunswick Forest (North Carolina), Sun City Peachtree (Georgia), and Sun City Summerlin (Nevada).
"This year's list of most popular communities is a testament to how much the active adult lifestyle is constantly changing," said 55Places.com CEO and Founder Bill Ness. "Latitude Margaritaville is embracing the tropical vibe and laidback lifestyle made famous by Jimmy Buffett, which is in line with the growing need of new communities to stand out from the crowd. Longstanding communities such as On Top of the World and The Villages continue to thrive thanks to a seemingly endless supply of amenities that meet the needs of their residents."
