Sales of vacation homes have dipped this year, but high-end developers are still aggressively rolling out new luxury communities aimed at part-time residents. The Ritz-Carlton, for one, hasn’t slowed the pace of its development, with several new properties announced in the past 12 months including residences in Los Cabos, Mex., Grand Cayman and now just north of Tucson, Ariz.

What’s for Sale

Sixteen home sites and 91 homes in the first phase of development. Eventually the 850-acre residential development in Marana, Ariz., just northwest of Tucson, will have a total of 300 homes along with 20 home lots. The first phase of building is divided into two neighborhoods, and buyers must choose their home design from a pre-selected group of plans that insures the development adheres closely to its southwest desert aesthetic.

What You Get

The homes in Dove Mountain are a mix of pueblo-style boxy abodes, along with similarly desert chic designs coupled with more decorative roof tiles. While the neighborhoods govern the style of the home (each enclave has a choice of two or three layouts and also four exterior designs), where buyers purchase also regulates the size of the homes. For instance, one neighborhood will have two- and three-bedroom homes ranging in size from 2,771 to 2,990 square feet, while another will have three- to four-bedroom residences as large as 4,836 square feet. All home designs include plans for a swimming pool (this is Arizona, after all) as well an optional casita, or guesthouse. Homes will start at $1.5 million and there will be onsite property management services available for absentee second home owners.

Buying in Dove Mountain, a 6,200-acre community, also means membership at the Rit-branded golf club. There are two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses in the works (the first 27 holes will be ready for play at the end of this year; another nine open in 2010), and a 50,000 square foot club house with a pool, tennis court and a Ritz-Carlton kids cub program. There is also a Ritz-Carlton hotel set to open at the end of 2009, and owners can use the spa, eat at the restaurants and visit the pool at the resort. In order to maintain the feel of a private golf club, the development will alternate member and hotel guest access to the two golf courses daily. Golf caddies, who accompany each foursome on the greens, will also fill the role of personal concierge, scheduling dinner reservations or spa appointments at your whim.

The Halogen Guides Take

Homes, not lots. While the Dove Mountain development is selling a handful of home sites, its clear that this community wants to see home construction and not just empty cactus strewn lots twinkling in the desert just waiting for those absentee owners to break ground. The movement towards homes over lots may also signal a shift in the mentality of today’s second home buyer, likely not eager, what with a looming recession, to take on the ever-rising cost of building a home from the ground up, not to mention trying to manage that construction project from afar. This Ritz-branded community in fact offers a level of semi-customization and in turn removes some of the hassles that goes along with building in a planned community such as securing the stamp of approval from the development’s architectural review board.

The greater Tucson area hasn’t seen quite the level of feverish growth that descended on Phoenix and Scottsdale at the height of the real estate boom and therefore hasn’t seen the influx of big branded five-star developments. One splashy recent entrant to the Tucson vacation home market was the Villas at Miraval, Life in Balance, a spa destination that attracts big name celebrity visitors like Oprah as well as big pocketed investors like Steve Case, who liked the resort so much, he bought it. The majority Case-owned destination club, Exclusive Resorts has four one-bedroom villas at Miraval. Villas at the club now start at $1.7 million.

Though the Ritz development at Dove Mountain simplifies the process of buying and building a semi-custom home, the question remains whether now is the time to buy at all in greater Tucson, where the median home price dipped to its lowest level since 2005 last month.