Tampa growth, Gulf Coast communities leading the nation

Tampa ranked in the Top Five in the U.S. last year for metro area population growth, according to U.S. Census figures contained in Eshenbaugh Land Co.'s first quarter newsletter to clients. In all, the city grew by 58,000 residents.

At the same time, John Burns Real Estate Consulting's most recent annual list of the best-selling master-planned communities nationwide contains a number of Gulf Coast projects.

The Villages, in Sumter County, in Central Florida, ranked as the second-best top-selling community nationwide, with nearly 2,000 home sales in 2016. The West Villages, a collection of four communities in Sarasota County, took the fourth slot, with 848 overall sales; and Lakewood Ranch, the 31,000-acre community straddling Sarasota and Manatee counties, rounded out the Top Five, with 775 sales last year, Eshenbaugh notes.