Camelot Homes typically draws design inspiration from the landscape surrounding its homes in the heart of the Arizona desert for its high-end communities.
The builder took a different approach for a model home at 7508 E. Laredo Lane in Scottsdale, and that departure appears to have paid off.
The home, the debut of a "Coastal California" model home for the builder's Collection community, sold to a buyer from the Golden State.
The undisclosed couple paid $5.55 million for the 4,047-square-foot home in a deal that closed at the end of August, according to Homes.com. The home has four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a den, an on-property casita, courtyard and swimming pool.
"It's unlike anything that Camelot has done before," said Leela Smith, Camelot's director of sales, in an interview with Homes.com. "The landscaping — we had lots of florals, beautiful foliage, Ficus trees. It wasn't your typical Arizona landscaping, there were no cactus, no cactus barrels, none of that."
The Collection is located in Scottsdale's Indian Bend neighborhood, where the average home value as of September is $771,816 — roughly $200,000 above the average across Phoenix, according to Homes.com.
Smith said Camelot looked at nearby upscale communities in Arcadia and Paradise Valley that offer similar designs.
"We wanted to not only have that California feel as well but also compete with what's happening in those other areas," Smith said. "[Our feeling was] let's bring a little bit of the Paradise Valley and the Arcadia style over here to Scottsdale."
Capitalizing on positive net migration trends
Smith added the sale was another success from Camelot's "Fly & Buy" incentive it debuted this summer to lure out-of-state buyers. Camelot offered to foot the bill up to $5,000 on round-trip airfare, lodging and rental car costs to buyers who visited Arizona during the summer — so long as they purchased a Camelot home by Aug. 31.
"They flew in specifically for that and toured, I want to say, two other of our communities and then kept coming back to The Collection," Smith said.
The homebuilder's out-of-state buyer profile shows that buyers typically come from cities in California, Nevada, Illinois, Texas, Colorado and Canada.
Californians made up the vast majority of Arizona's net migration boom from 2023. Of the 62,500 people Arizona gained, more than half came from California — and accounted for more people than the next 10 states combined, according to CoStar's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
One of the primary drivers attracting new residents to Arizona is the relatively lower cost of living, particularly housing, according to the analysis.
With the latest sale, all eight of Camelot's lots within The Collection have sold. Five of those homes, including the Coastal California house, are built out, with the remaining three slated to wrap construction by February.
The gated community also offered "Contemporary" and "Urban Farmhouse" styles. Homes range in size from 4,047 square feet to 4,666 square feet.
Elsewhere in Scottsdale, Camelot recently started work on the Edge at Joy Ranch and Villas II at Desert Mountain; the projects aim to bring 75 new luxury homes to north Scottsdale.