Moorpark has approved far more new homes than it is building. The city's July 2026 land use status report lists six residential projects with active approvals that are not yet under construction, totaling more than 1,700 homes, plus two more whose permits have expired. The only residential project in the "under construction" column is KB Home's 47-home Beltramo Ranch community south of Los Angeles Avenue.
That gap matters if you're comparing Moorpark with neighboring cities and assuming a wave of new construction will soon loosen supply. In Moorpark, the city's approval list and its construction list are two very different documents. Hitch Ranch's own timeline, as the city describes it, depends on how fast homes sell, and several of them are now back at the table rewriting the terms of approvals they already hold.
A long list of approvals, a short list of homes going up
The city's July 2026 Quarterly Status Report is a dry document. It also gives the clearest single view of where Moorpark's new homes stand. Here are the residential projects it lists with active approvals, with the year each was approved, alongside the one under construction:
| Project | Developer listed | Homes approved | Approved | Status in July 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hitch Ranch | Lennar | 755 single- and multifamily | 2022 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| Casey Road Senior Community | Dorchester Capital Group | 390-unit senior retirement community | 2019 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| Pacific Arroyo | Pacific Communities | 284 single-family | 2017 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| North Ranch | West Pointe Homes / Moorpark 67, LLC | 134 single-family plus 5 estate lots | 2023 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| Vistas at Moorpark | City Ventures | 110 single-family | 2015 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| Everett Street Terraces | John C. Chiu, FLP-N | 60 condominiums | 2022 | Approved, not yet under construction |
| Beltramo Ranch | KB Home | 47 single-family | 2022 | Under construction |
Some of these sites have been waiting a very long time. The Vistas site east of Walnut Canyon Road first got a 110-unit development agreement in 2004 under a different owner, and those homes were never built. City Ventures bought the property, won approval for its own 110-unit plan, and that version wasn't built either. Some approvals have simply run out. The report lists two more projects in the same section with expired permits. One is Canyon Crest, 21 homes off Marine View Drive, where a new map application is in review. The other is Green Island Villas, a townhouse project at 635 Los Angeles Avenue, where the planned development permit expired on Sept. 1, 2025, and the tract map was set to expire Sept. 1, 2026.
At Beltramo, the one project actually being built, the city's annual review counted 21 homes completed and 21 sold as of April 6, 2026. So the homes reaching the market came from the smallest project on the list, and they arrived at a steady pace.
What the council reopened on Sept. 16
Last month the Moorpark City Council appointed two-member ad hoc committees to negotiate a new development agreement for Shea Homes' La Perch proposal and amendments to the existing agreements for four of the approved projects in the table. Per the council minutes, the Hitch Ranch and North Ranch committees went to Councilmembers Means and Barrett, Pacific Arroyo to Mayor Enegren and Councilmember Delgado, and Vistas to Mayor Enegren and Councilmember Barrett.
The staff agenda report shows what each developer wants changed:
- North Ranch wants to move its required affordable housing units off the 5979 Gabbert Road site and over to Hitch Ranch.
- Hitch Ranch wants to take on those units, change how a parks fee may be used, and redraw the development agreement boundary.
- Pacific Arroyo is seeking changes to provisions on forming a Community Facilities District, the purchase price and terms for a City Site, the timing of grading and improvements on that site, and planned improvements on Los Angeles Avenue. This would be its second amendment. The first, adopted in May 2024, changed the affordable housing requirements and phased the tract map.
- Vistas at Moorpark wants to amend its old agreement to fit a much larger plan of 205 single-family homes and 141 townhomes on 80.48 acres, and to change provisions on development fees and off-site improvements.
- La Perch is a new application for 52 single-family homes and 60 duplexes on 24.1 acres at 7200 Walnut Canyon Road. It was deemed complete on May 29, 2026.
Staff noted that all of these requests are preliminary and could change during negotiation. Taken together, they show that the terms attached to Moorpark's approvals, including affordable housing, fees, infrastructure and special taxes, are still moving years after the original votes.
Why a builder with an approval can wait
California law describes a development agreement as a way to give a project "greater certainty regarding the timing, terms, and conditions," including phasing and public improvements, according to the city's report. Certainty about terms is a different thing from a start date, and the September requests show those terms being reopened years after approval.
Hitch Ranch shows how this plays out. In January 2026 the council approved conceptual plans for two parks in the community, with playgrounds, a splash pad themed on Moorpark's farm history, and trails with equestrian rail fencing. Lennar will build the parks and pay for them. Construction starts once the 400th home is finished. When asked about timing, the city's parks director gave the Moorpark Acorn an honest answer:
"That's a tough call. It's all contingent probably on the housing market and how fast they can sell them."
The Acorn also reported that the developer plans to open model homes in 2028.
Acorn photographers caught equipment working at the Hitch Ranch site north of Poindexter Avenue in late January. Six months later, the city's July report still had the project under "approved, not yet under construction." The development permits for its first planning areas were still in review: 90 single-family homes in Planning Area 1, 153 single-family homes and 86 duplexes in Planning Area 3, and 107 apartments plus 86 duplexes in Planning Area 4. Those two facts fit together. Work on the land can move forward while the permits for the actual homes, and the terms attached to them, stay open.
A builder that times releases to demand isn't trying to flood the market. It releases a phase, sells it, and releases the next one.
What the county numbers say about the gap
The supply you can actually buy in the meantime is resale homes, and that supply was tighter in September than a year earlier. The California Association of REALTORS® September 2026 release shows Ventura County's unsold inventory index at 3.5 months, down from 3.8 months in September 2025. The county's median sold price for existing single-family homes in September 2026 was $930,000, up 3.3% from a year earlier, and sales rose 6.4% year over year. Median time on market was 38.5 days.
C.A.R. publishes these figures for the county, not for individual cities, so they set the regional backdrop rather than a precise read on Moorpark. Still, the direction is clear. More buyers are closing on a slightly smaller supply of existing homes, and the new construction that could relieve Moorpark's share of that pressure sits in negotiation committees and permit queues. A buyer who waits for Hitch Ranch is betting on model homes that the city's own staff tied to market conditions.
The tax line that comes with new homes, and some older ones
When the new homes do arrive, the purchase price won't be the only number to look at. Beltramo has a Community Facilities District, often called Mello-Roos, which the city formed in July 2025 and authorized to levy special taxes starting in fiscal year 2025/26. Beltramo also has a homeowners association, formed in January 2024. At Hitch Ranch, a community facilities district will pay for future park maintenance, the Acorn reported. And CFD formation is one of the specific topics Pacific Arroyo has asked to renegotiate.
Buying an older home doesn't automatically mean no special tax. Ventura County's fiscal 2026/27 direct assessment listing shows Moorpark CFD 2004-1, covering the Highlands, levying a total of $515,274.80 across 334 parcels. That works out to roughly $1,540 per parcel on average. That's an average across the district, not the amount on any particular bill. If you compare a newer Highlands home with a similar house a mile away, the yearly carrying cost can differ even when the list prices match.
This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the special taxes, assessments and HOA obligations on any specific property with the appropriate professional before you rely on them.
Questions to settle in writing before you make an offer
- Is the property inside a Community Facilities District, and what does the county's direct assessment record show for that parcel? The county listing above is the public starting point.
- If it's new construction, is a development agreement for the project being renegotiated? The September agenda report names each project with an open amendment.
- Which phase is being sold, and what's in the city's pipeline next to it? Hitch Ranch's planning areas mix single-family homes, duplexes and apartments.
- Are the parks or other amenities promised in the marketing tied to a construction milestone? At Hitch Ranch, park construction begins at the 400th completed home.
- What do the HOA documents say about dues and what they cover? Beltramo's HOA manages five phases plus East Beltramo Ranch Road, so its budget covers more than a single street.
If you're weighing a Moorpark resale home against a spot in line for a future phase, The Jenna Kaye Group can walk through the construction details with you, so your decision rests on the property itself rather than on a project timeline. Request a private consultation and a tailored plan built around your timing.
