Turtle Rock, Irvine:
homes, streets and what sells.
Turtle Rock is a hillside village of about 3,850 homes in south Irvine, founded in 1967, with public streets rather than a gated entry. It runs from condos and patio homes to large view homes on the ridges, so the village median hides a wide spread.
Greg reviews every request and replies with a written valuation.
Turtle Rock homes for sale cover more ground than almost any other Irvine village: a two-bedroom condo, a single-level patio home and a five-bedroom house with a canyon view can all list in the same month. The village dates from 1967 and was the Irvine Company's first hillside village on the Irvine Ranch. It sits in the San Joaquin Hills between UC Irvine and Shady Canyon, organised around a single looping road, Turtle Rock Drive, with hilltops left open between the neighbourhoods.
This guide sits under the Irvine guide. It covers which kinds of homes you find in which parts of the village, what they have sold for in the latest three months on record, what is on the doorstep and how Greg Toussieng would price a home here.
Turtle Rock · July-September 2026 · Source: Redfin Data Center
- Founded 1967, marked by a turtle sculpture in Turtle Rock Community Park (source)
- Homes about 3,850 (source)
- Plan the first hillside village on the Irvine Ranch, around one looping road (source)
- Boundaries University Drive and Mason Regional Park to the north, Strawberry Farms Golf Club and Ridgeline Drive to the east, Shady Canyon Drive to the south, Culver Drive to the west (source)
- Main road Turtle Rock Drive, a two-lane loop through the village (source)
- Nature centre a five-acre preserve at 1 Sunnyhill Drive, run by the City of Irvine (source)
- Open space the Bommer Canyon preserve to the south, bought by the city in 1981-82 (source)
- Schools in the village Turtle Rock Elementary and Bonita Canyon Elementary, Irvine Unified (source)
- Nearby campuses UC Irvine and Concordia University (source)
- ZIP code 92603 (source)
What do homes in Turtle Rock look like?
Homes in Turtle Rock range from attached condos and townhomes to patio homes, single-family tract houses and larger custom homes on view lots, built in stages from the late 1960s onward. The village was planned as a set of separate tracts off Turtle Rock Drive, each with its own builder, era and often its own association, so the street you are on says a lot about the house you will find.
Condominium and townhome tracts such as Turtle Rock Pointe sit at the lower end of the price range. Patio homes, many of them single-level on small lots, sit in the middle. The detached tract homes of the 1970s and 1980s make up much of the village, usually two storeys with a yard, and many have been remodelled or rebuilt over the years. At the top are the larger homes on the ridges and canyon edges, where a lot that looks out across open hills changes the price.
Within any one tract, three things move value: the view, the lot and the update. A house backing onto a slope with an open outlook sells above the same plan facing the street. A deeper or flatter lot adds room for a pool or an addition. A kitchen, glass and systems redone in the last decade separate one sale from the next more than the original floor plan does.
What do Turtle Rock homes sell for?
Turtle Rock homes sell across a wide range, from the condo tracts to custom view homes well into the millions, and the card above gives Redfin's median, days on market and sale-to-list ratio for the latest three months. About thirty homes changed hands in that window, enough for a fair read of pace but not of value for any one home.
Turtle Rock prices depend on which kind of home you mean. Redfin's three-month median for the village blends condos, patio homes, tract houses and view homes, so it moves with the mix of what happened to sell, not only with demand. A quarter with several large view homes closing pulls it up; a quarter heavy with townhomes pulls it down.
That is also why the year-over-year change in the card should be read with care. With roughly thirty sales in a window and very different homes among them, a large swing can reflect the mix as much as the market.
For an owner, the useful comparison is the recent sales in your own tract or the ones most like it, adjusted for view, lot and condition. Greg puts those in a written analysis and shows each adjustment before any list price is agreed.
Pace is the other half of the picture, and days on market tell you something the median does not. When the village figure runs long, it is often the higher-priced view homes that are waiting, while well-priced homes in the middle of the range still go under contract quickly.
Which Turtle Rock homes are for sale now?
The Turtle Rock homes currently listed for sale appear below, from the MLS, with each listing brokerage credited.
What is living in Turtle Rock like?
Living in Turtle Rock centres on the hills. The village sits in the San Joaquin Hills, and its planners kept the hilltops as open space between neighbourhoods, so many streets end at a slope rather than another tract.
Turtle Rock Community Park, at Turtle Rock Drive and Sunnyhill Drive, is the hub, and the City of Irvine runs the Turtle Rock Nature Center beside it: a five-acre preserve with a paved nature trail through riparian, desert and woodland plantings and a pond. From the park a trail connects south to Bommer Canyon, the open space the city bought from the Irvine Company in 1981 and 1982, where oak and sycamore groves line the canyon and the old cattle camp is now an event site. Chaparral Park is a smaller open area near Bonita Canyon Elementary, and an outcrop of rock on Rockview Drive is kept as an association park.
The village's own schools are part of the street plan. Turtle Rock Elementary and Bonita Canyon Elementary, both Irvine Unified, sit inside or beside the village, and University High School is just to the north near the UC Irvine campus. Check the district's boundary information for any one address, since attendance areas can change.
To the north, Mason Regional Park and UC Irvine are close by, and University Drive and the 405 lead toward the rest of Irvine. Irvine Spectrum is a short drive east, and the coast at Newport Beach and Laguna Beach is a short drive south over the hills.
One road, many tracts
Turtle Rock Drive loops through the whole village, and each tract off it has its own era, builder and association rules. Irvine community guide
How would Greg sell a home in Turtle Rock?
Greg would sell a Turtle Rock home by pricing it against its own tract first and marketing it to the buyer that tract draws. A patio home, a 1970s tract house and a ridge-top view home each attract a different buyer, and the listing is written and photographed for that person.
For a view home, the photography leads with the outlook and the outdoor space, shot at the time of day the view looks best. For a tract house, the work is often in preparation: a room-by-room plan that makes a well-kept original or a recent remodel show at its best. Pricing comes from the closest comparables in the village, adjusted for view, lot and update, and Greg puts the analysis in writing so you can see how each number was reached.
Greg Toussieng is a California real estate broker, DRE #01495415, first licensed in California in 2005. He works from the firm's Santa Ana office and runs each listing himself from preparation to closing.
Greg prepares a written valuation from recent sales near you. Start with the address.
What should a buyer check before an offer in Turtle Rock?
A Turtle Rock buyer should check which association the home belongs to, what its documents allow and what the permit history shows. Many homes sit in a tract association as well as the larger village association, so there can be two sets of dues and two sets of rules, including architectural review for exterior changes and additions.
Ask for the permit history too. Plenty of Turtle Rock houses have been expanded or rebuilt, and an addition finished without permits can cost money to correct. Finally, look at the slope behind the house. A hillside lot gives the view, but it is worth knowing who maintains the slope, whether there are drainage devices to keep clear and what the inspection says about them.
Which communities near Turtle Rock should you compare?
Buyers who look at Turtle Rock often compare it with Shady Canyon next door and with the hillside communities above Newport Harbor.
Shady Canyon is the guard-gated community just south across Shady Canyon Drive, with custom homes around a private golf club. Harbor Ridge is a guard-gated hillside community above Corona del Mar with ocean and city-light views. For the rest of the city, see the Irvine homes guide, and for the gated and waterfront tier across the county, the luxury homes guide.
Own a home in Turtle Rock?
See what it would sell for from the recent sales in your own tract, with every adjustment written out. Get a written home value
Selling in Turtle Rock? Ask Greg for the recent sales in your tract.
Who can finance a home in Turtle Rock?
Esther Buede at Choice Home Mortgage can arrange the loan, timed to Greg's work on the purchase.
Financing a home in Turtle Rock? Esther Buede at Choice Home Mortgage
Esther works with Greg on the loan side of a purchase, from conforming loans to jumbo loans on the coast. Choice Home Mortgage, NMLS #2629064, has a page on buying and financing in Irvine.
Irvine home loans with Esther Buede
Gregory James Group and Choice Home Mortgage are trade names of the same California company, Montana Real Estate Inc (CA DRE #01822046, NMLS #2629064), which Greg Toussieng owns. If we represent you in a purchase or sale and you also arrange your loan through Choice Home Mortgage, the company is paid for both services. You are not required to use Choice Home Mortgage to work with Gregory James Group, and you are free to compare loans from any other lender. When we refer you, we give you a written disclosure of this relationship and the estimated charges, and when we act as both your agent and your loan broker we confirm both roles in writing within 24 hours.
Common questions
Is Turtle Rock a gated community?
Turtle Rock as a whole is not a gated community. Turtle Rock Drive, the loop road through the village, is a public street, and the tracts open off it. Any entry gate or private street inside a particular tract is a matter for that tract's association, so check the listing and the association documents for the specific address.
How many homes are in Turtle Rock?
Turtle Rock has about 3,850 homes, according to the Irvine Company's village fact sheet. That total spans condominiums and townhomes, patio homes, single-family tract homes and larger custom view homes, which is why prices across the village cover such a wide range in any given quarter.
When was Turtle Rock built?
Turtle Rock was founded in 1967, and a turtle sculpture in Turtle Rock Community Park marks the date. The Irvine Company describes it as the first hillside village on the Irvine Ranch. Homes were added in stages over the following decades, so the village mixes original tracts with later neighbourhoods and rebuilt houses.
What school district serves Turtle Rock?
Turtle Rock is in the Irvine Unified School District. Turtle Rock Elementary and Bonita Canyon Elementary sit within or beside the village, and University High School is close to its northern edge. Attendance areas follow district boundaries, which can change, so confirm the assigned school for a specific address with the district.
Do Turtle Rock homes pay Mello-Roos?
Turtle Rock's first homes date from the late 1960s, before California's Mello-Roos Act of 1982 created community facilities district taxes, so most older Turtle Rock tracts were built without one. Any parcel can still carry other special assessments, so read the property tax bill and the preliminary title report for the exact home.
How much is a Turtle Rock home worth?
A Turtle Rock home's value depends on which tract it sits in, the view, the lot and how much the house has been updated. Greg Toussieng, a California real estate broker, pulls the recent sales from the same part of the village and writes up a comparative market analysis showing each comparable and adjustment.
- Irvine Company, Turtle Rock village facts (first hillside village on the Irvine Ranch, 3,850 homes) · checked 2026-10-28
- Turtle Rock, Irvine: 1967 founding, boundaries, Turtle Rock Drive, parks and schools · checked 2026-10-28
- City of Irvine: Turtle Rock Nature Center, five-acre preserve, 1 Sunnyhill Drive, Irvine 92603 · checked 2026-10-28
- Bommer Canyon open space: bought by the City of Irvine in 1981-82, cattle camp, trailhead opened 2011 · checked 2026-10-28
- Hiking Project: Bommer Canyon to Turtle Ridge loop, overflow parking at Turtle Rock Community Park · checked 2026-10-28
- Turtle Rock patio homes (agent community page) · checked 2026-10-28
- Turtle Rock Pointe condominiums (agent community page) · checked 2026-10-28
- Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 · checked 2026-10-28
- Redfin Data Center, Turtle Rock neighborhood figures (rolling three months) · checked 2026-10-28
- California DRE licence lookup · checked 2026-10-28
Start with the address. Greg does the rest.
A written valuation from recent sales near you, prepared by a licensed broker. Or call (949) 868-8820.