Harbor Island, Newport Beach:
thirty homes on the water.
Harbor Island is a 9.5-acre gated island in Newport Harbor with about thirty homes on a single street, every one on the water with at least one boat dock. It was made from harbour dredging in the early 1900s and is reached over a gated bridge. Sales are rare, often one or two a year.
Greg reviews every request and replies with a written valuation.
Harbor Island Newport Beach homes for sale are among the rarest listings in Orange County. The island covers about 9.5 acres of Newport Harbor and holds roughly thirty houses on one street, and every home faces the bay and every lot has at least one dock. A gated bridge is the only way on, and the island is off-limits to anyone without a resident's say-so.
Harbor Island is not natural. It was built up from dredged material in the early 1900s, when the estuary was being turned into today's harbour. This guide, under the Newport Beach guide, covers the homes, what the public sales show, the docks and how Greg Toussieng would price and sell a Harbor Island home.
- Where Lower Newport Bay, City of Newport Beach, 92660 (source)
- Size 9.5 acres (source)
- Homes about thirty (source)
- Street every home on one street (source)
- Docks each lot has waterfront and one or more boat docks (source)
- Gate gated community, reached by a gated bridge (source)
- Origin artificial island from early-1900s harbour dredging (source)
- Turnover five sales in the three years to late 2019 (source)
- Largest reported sale 18 Harbor Island, about 14,200 square feet, nearly $37 million in October 2019 (source)
- School district Newport-Mesa Unified (source)
What do homes on Harbor Island look like?
Homes on Harbor Island are large bayfront houses on some of the biggest residential lots in the harbour, with docks for sizeable boats. The housing stock runs from older houses to large newer estates, such as the house of about 14,200 square feet at 18 Harbor Island.
Because every home is on the water, the differences come from the shape of the frontage and the view. Lots that face the main channel of the Lower Bay look across moving water and boat traffic toward the peninsula. Others look toward Linda Isle or the quieter water beside the bridge. The width of the frontage, the size of the dock and the depth of water at the slip vary from lot to lot, and they matter as much to a buyer as the house.
With so few lots, a rebuilt estate and an older house can sit side by side, and buyers often price the lot and dock first. A house that needs work on a wide lot can draw strong interest.
How was Harbor Island made?
Harbor Island was made from mud and sand dredged out of the estuary in the early 1900s, the same work that created Newport Harbor and several of its islands. What had been tidal flat became an island of about 9.5 acres, and lots were later laid out along a single street so that each one touched the water.
The island's small size has kept its character. There is room for about thirty houses and no more, the street has no through traffic and the bridge is gated, so the island has changed mainly through rebuilds of individual homes.
What do Harbor Island Newport Beach homes for sale cost?
Harbor Island homes sell at the very top of the Newport Beach market, and the card above shows Redfin's latest three-month figures if any sale closed in the period. Many quarters have no sale at all.
Harbor Island prices are set one sale at a time, because so few homes change hands. The Orange County Business Journal reported in November 2019 that five homes had sold in the previous three years, an average of about one every seven months, and that two 2019 sales together came to $51.3 million.
Those two sales show the range. A house of nearly 9,000 square feet at 3 Harbor Island sold for $14.3 million in August 2019, and an estate of about 14,200 square feet at 18 Harbor Island sold for nearly $37 million that October, after being listed the year before at $60 million.
Those figures are dated, and values have moved since. An owner's current benchmark is the most recent island sales plus the closest bayfront sales on Linda Isle and nearby, adjusted for frontage, dock, lot and house. Greg sets them out in a written analysis.
That 2019 gap between the $60 million asking price and the final sale is the clearest lesson the island offers. Even at this level, buyers pay what the comparables support, and a listing priced well above them can wait a long time.
Which Harbor Island homes are for sale now?
Any Harbor Island homes listed for sale right now appear below, from the MLS, with each listing brokerage credited.
What is it like to live on Harbor Island?
Living on Harbor Island means a quiet gated street of houses with the bay at every back garden. Boats leave from private docks straight into the Lower Bay, toward the harbour mouth, Balboa Island or the Back Bay.
Off the island, Pacific Coast Highway and Bayside Drive are moments away. Fashion Island and Newport Center sit up the hill, Corona del Mar's village and beaches are a few minutes south, and the Balboa Peninsula's ocean beaches are a short boat ride across the harbour.
One street, thirty docks
Harbor Island's homes line a single street, each one facing the bay. Newport Beach homes guide
How would Greg sell a home on Harbor Island?
Greg would sell a Harbor Island home by pricing it from the island's own sales and the closest bayfront comparables, then presenting the lot, the dock and the house in that order. The photography is shot from the water as well as the house, because the frontage and the dock are what buyers at this level compare first, and the listing states the dock's dimensions and the boat it takes.
Pricing at this end of the market needs care. Greg's written analysis uses the few island sales and adds recent bayfront sales on Linda Isle and elsewhere in the harbour, adjusted for frontage, lot, dock and condition, so the price can be defended to a buyer's agent and an appraiser. He prepares the dock permit, seawall reports, coastal approvals and association documents in advance, and handles showings with the discretion a gated island requires.
Greg Toussieng is a California real estate broker, DRE #01495415, first licensed in California in 2005, and handles each listing himself.
Greg prepares a written valuation from recent sales near you. Start with the address.
What should a buyer check before an offer on Harbor Island?
A Harbor Island buyer should check the dock, the seawall, the flood zone and the association documents. Ask for the dock permit, the slip dimensions and the depth at low tide, and have a marine contractor inspect the dock and seawall.
Look up the lot on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and get flood and homeowner's insurance quotes early in escrow. If you plan to rebuild, start with the City of Newport Beach, since most new homes near the water need a coastal development permit. The association's documents set dues, gate rules and architectural standards.
Which communities near Harbor Island should you compare?
Buyers looking at Harbor Island often compare it with Linda Isle next door and with Bay Island across the harbour.
Linda Isle is a larger guard-gated island of about a hundred homes, every one with its own dock. Bay Island is a car-free island off the Balboa Peninsula with 23 homes, reached by a footbridge. See the Newport Beach homes guide for the city and the luxury homes guide for the waterfront tier across Orange County.
Own a home on Harbor Island?
Get a written value built from the island's own sales and the nearest bayfront comparables. Get a written home value
Selling on Harbor Island? Ask Greg for a private valuation.
Who can finance a home in Harbor Island?
Esther Buede at Choice Home Mortgage can arrange the loan, timed to Greg's work on the purchase.
Financing a home in Harbor Island? 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 Newport Beach.
Newport Beach 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 Harbor Island in Newport Beach gated?
Harbor Island is a gated community reached over a gated bridge, and the island is off-limits to non-residents. Guards control access, and visitors have to be cleared by a resident. The community association sets the rules for guests, contractors and deliveries, so read them, along with the CC&Rs, before closing on a home.
How many homes are on Harbor Island?
Harbor Island has about thirty homes, all on a single street on the 9.5-acre island. The Orange County Business Journal counted thirty in 2019, when it reported that five had sold in the previous three years. With so few houses, a year can pass with one sale or none.
Do Harbor Island homes have boat docks?
Every lot on Harbor Island has frontage on the water and one or more boat docks. Dock size, the boat a slip can take and the depth of water differ from lot to lot, and dock work in the harbour needs city approval, so ask for the dock permit and a marine inspection for any home you consider.
How was Harbor Island made?
Harbor Island is an artificial island, built up from material dredged from the estuary in the early 1900s when Newport Harbor was being formed. Several of the harbour's islands were made the same way. The island covers about 9.5 acres, and its lots are laid out so that each one faces the bay.
Is Harbor Island the same as Linda Isle?
Harbor Island and Linda Isle are separate gated islands next to each other in the Lower Bay of Newport Harbor, each with its own gate and association. Harbor Island is smaller, with about thirty homes on one street. Linda Isle is horseshoe-shaped, with about a hundred homes, and was built by the Irvine Company in the 1960s.
How much is a Harbor Island home worth?
A Harbor Island home's value depends on its frontage and view across the bay, the lot's size, the dock and the boat it takes, and the age and condition of the house. Greg Toussieng, a California real estate broker, prepares a written comparative market analysis from Harbor Island's few recent sales and the nearest bayfront comparables.
Do I need a coastal permit to rebuild on Harbor Island?
Rebuilding a home on Harbor Island usually needs a coastal development permit, which the City of Newport Beach issues itself under the Local Coastal Program the California Coastal Commission certified in 2017. Dock and seawall work also needs approvals, so ask the seller for every past permit and talk to the city before you plan a rebuild.
- Harbor Island, Newport Beach: artificial island from early-1900s dredging, about thirty homes on one street, every lot with docks, gated, 9.5 acres · checked 2026-10-28
- Orange County Business Journal (Nov 17, 2019): 18 Harbor Island sells for nearly $37 million; 3 Harbor Island $14.3 million; five sales in three years; 30 homes · checked 2026-10-28
- Listing record, 11 Harbor Island, Newport Beach 92660 · checked 2026-10-28
- Linda Isle, Newport Beach: neighbouring gated island, Lower Bay · checked 2026-10-28
- California Coastal Commission: Newport Beach Local Coastal Program certified (2017); city issues coastal development permits · checked 2026-10-28
- Newport-Mesa Unified School District · checked 2026-10-28
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center · 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.