Orange County homes for sale,
and how to read this market.
Orange County homes for sale range from inland condos to bayfront houses on the Newport Harbor islands. The county's median sale price for September 2026 was $1,207,298. Typical days on market: 47. Your own city's figures, in the table below, tell you more than the county number does.
Greg reviews every request and replies with a written valuation.
Orange County is 34 cities and a stretch of unincorporated canyon land between the Los Angeles County line and San Diego County, with more than 40 miles of coastline and 3,186,989 residents at the 2020 census. Homes for sale here run from inland condominiums to bayfront houses with private docks, and the county median sits somewhere in the middle of all of it. This page gives you the month's figures, a city-by-city table and a way into each city guide, so you can see where your search or your sale actually stands.
Orange County · September 2026 · Source: Redfin Data Center
The four figures above are dated and carry their source. Nothing older than the prior month is shown. For the full monthly picture, including two years of prices and a downloadable table, read the Orange County housing market report.
Is Orange County a buyer's or seller's market right now?
The quickest read on the Orange County market comes from two numbers: the share of list price homes sell for, and how many days they take to go under contract. In September 2026, homes sold at 98.8% of list price. The median days on market was 47.
Here is how to read those numbers yourself. When homes sell at or above list price within two or three weeks, and there are only a couple of months of supply, sellers have the edge and well-priced homes draw more than one offer. When price reductions start to spread, days on market climb and supply moves toward six months, buyers gain room to negotiate on price, repairs and credits. The county figure blends very different markets, so a condo in one city and a bayfront home in Newport Beach can sit on opposite sides of that line in the same month. Check your own city in the table below, then ask Greg for the sales on your street.
Want the figures for your own neighbourhood? Greg will pull them.
Which Orange County cities cost the most, and the least?
The coastal cities cost the most and the older inland cities the least, with the master-planned cities in between. That pattern holds most months even as the exact order changes with the mix of homes that sell. The table shows each city with a full guide, using the same source and month as the county card.
| City | Median sale price | Median days on market | Homes sold | 12-month change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Beach | $3,848,167 | 65 | 284 | +13.2% |
| Irvine | $1,449,310 | 61 | 556 | -6.5% |
| Santa Ana | $849,595 | 44 | 206 | +3.7% |
| Orange County | $1,207,298 | 47 | 1,805 | +0.6% |
A city with fewer than 10 sales in a month shows no median, because a handful of sales can swing it. More cities join the table as their guides are written: Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Laguna Beach and Dana Point are next.
What homes sell for, from Seal Beach to San Clemente.
Eight places, down the coast and back to the office in Santa Ana: what homes sold for and how fast they went.
Every gold dot opens a full guide. The complete list is below the map.
CityHuntington Beach$1.4MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Huntington Beach guide
CityNewport Beach$3.85MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Newport Beach guide
Community · Newport BeachBalboa Island$3.74MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Balboa Island guide
CityCorona del Mar$4.56MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Corona del Mar guide
CityNewport Coast$6.23MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Newport Coast guide
CityLaguna Beach$3.29MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Laguna Beach guide
CityIrvine$1.45MRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Irvine guide
CitySanta Ana$850KRedfin Data Center, July-September 2026Read the Santa Ana guideEvery area we cover
Median sale price and median days on market · Redfin Data Center, July-September 2026
- Newport Coast$6.23M53 days
- Corona del Mar$4.56M64 days
- Newport Beach$3.85M65 days
- Laguna Beach$3.29M71 days
- Dana Point$2.1M47 days
- Costa Mesa$1.55M39 days
- Irvine$1.45M61 days
- Yorba Linda$1.45M42 days
- Fountain Valley$1.41M27 days
- Huntington Beach$1.4M43 days
- Laguna Niguel$1.37M45 days
- Mission Viejo$1.22M44 days
- Tustin$1.15M48 days
- Fullerton$1.05M40 days
- Garden Grove$1.01M32 days
- Anaheim$970K41 days
- Santa Ana$850K44 days
- Crystal Cove$14.5M71 days
- Lido Isle$12.4M96 days
- Pelican Hill$10.3M71 days
- Shady Canyon$10.2M57 days
- Big Canyon$5.9M95 days
- Dover Shores$5.7M103 days
- Harbor Ridge$4.52M219 days
- Balboa Island$3.74M85 days
- Turtle Rock$2.45M78 days
What does Orange County real estate look like from the coast to the canyons?
Orange County real estate falls into three broad settings, and each prices on different things. Along the coast, the price follows the water: oceanfront, bayfront, a view, or a walk to the sand. In the master-planned cities, it follows the village, the school district boundary, the age of the tract and its Mello-Roos tax. In the older inland cities, it follows the street, the lot and the condition of a house that may be 70 or 100 years old.
Santa Ana, the county seat since Orange County split from Los Angeles County in 1889, holds some of the oldest housing in the county, with historic districts of Craftsman and Spanish Revival homes. Irvine, incorporated in 1971, was laid out around the University of California campus as a set of villages, each with its own builder era and association. Newport Beach wraps around a harbour with eight artificial islands, and its prices change block by block depending on frontage and view.
Most buyers start with a price range and a commute. A useful second question is which of these three settings you want, because a house at the same price looks very different in each one.
The inland cities
Older streets, larger lots for the price and houses with a history. Santa Ana's French Park and Floral Park districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Santa Ana homes for sale
The planned cities
Villages built in phases since the 1970s, with associations, greenbelts and, in many newer tracts, a Mello-Roos special tax. Houses for sale in Irvine
Condos for sale in Orange County: what should you check first?
Check three things before you write an offer on any Orange County condo or townhome: what the HOA dues cover, the association's reserve study, and whether the tract carries a Mello-Roos special tax. A condo is often the way into a city whose detached houses sit out of reach, and the purchase price is only half of what it costs to own one.
The HOA dues pay for shared insurance, landscaping, pools and the reserve fund that pays for roofs, paving and plumbing over time. A thin reserve fund can lead to a special assessment, a one-time charge to each owner, so read the reserve study and the last year of board minutes during escrow. Ask whether any lawsuit involves the association, because lenders ask that too.
The loan you plan to use matters as well, because an FHA loan can only be used in a condo project on HUD's approved list or one approved for a single unit, and VA loans have their own approval process. If you plan to use either, check the project's status before you fall for the unit. A project that is not on the list also narrows the pool of buyers when you sell.
Then compare the full monthly cost against a house: mortgage, dues, any Mello-Roos tax, insurance, and property tax at the 1 percent base rate under Proposition 13 plus local voter-approved charges. A condo with low dues and no special tax can cost less each month than a smaller house nearby. One with high dues and a large special tax often does not.
Looking at condos? Greg will send the association documents to read first.
What are Mello-Roos fees, and which areas have them?
Mello-Roos is a special tax charged inside a Community Facilities District, a district created under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 to pay for public works such as roads, schools and parks in newer developments. It appears on the property tax bill on top of the 1 percent base rate set by Proposition 13, and the seller must disclose it.
In Orange County you see it most in master-planned areas built from the 1980s on, including many Irvine villages, and rarely in streets built before the Act existed. The amount depends on the district's rate formula, and some taxes end when the bonds are repaid while others continue for services. Ask for the exact annual amount and the year it ends before you make an offer, and compare two homes on their full monthly cost.
How are property taxes worked out when you buy in Orange County?
Property tax on an Orange County home starts at 1 percent of the price you pay, because Proposition 13 resets the assessed value to the purchase price when a home changes hands. After that, the assessed value can rise by no more than 2 percent a year while you own it, however fast the market climbs. Voter-approved bonds and any Mello-Roos special tax are added on top, so the total on most bills lands a little above 1 percent.
Two things catch new owners out. The first is the supplemental tax bill: the County Assessor reassesses the home at its new value, and a separate bill covers the gap between the seller's old assessed value and yours for the rest of the tax year. It arrives a few months after closing and is not paid through most lenders' impound accounts. The second is that the seller's current tax bill tells you very little about yours if they bought decades ago. Budget from the price you will pay, not from the seller's bill.
Where do luxury buyers look in Orange County?
Luxury buyers in Orange County look in three places: on the harbour, behind the gates of the coastal hills, and on larger canyon lots inland. Each setting has its own pricing logic, covered in the luxury homes guide.
On the water, Balboa Island, Lido Isle and Linda Isle in Newport Harbor price on bay frontage and the dock. In the coastal hills, Crystal Cove, Harbor Ridge and Big Canyon are guard-gated communities with ocean, city-light and golf-course views. Inland, Shady Canyon in Irvine and Coto de Caza in the south county sit on larger lots against open hills. Comparable sales are scarce in all three, which is why the price analysis matters more than it does for a tract home.
How do you search all homes for sale in Orange County?
Start with the home search, which is being connected to the regional MLS so it can show every listed home in the county. Until it is live, the fastest route is to tell Greg what you are looking for: the cities, the price range, the type of home and the must-haves. He sends matching homes as they list, with the recent sales around each one.
That second part is the useful one. Portal listings tell you what a seller is asking. The sales around a home tell you what it is likely worth, which is what you need before you write an offer.
Selling or buying in Orange County: where do you start?
Sellers start with a written home value built from recent nearby sales, and buyers start with a search plus the sales around each home they like. Both start from what nearby homes actually sold for, not from asking prices.
Selling in Orange County
Greg prices from recent sales near you, prepares the home room by room and markets it with architectural photography. Your first step is a written home value. What's my home worth?
Buying in Orange County
When a home catches your eye, Greg pulls the sales around it so you know what a fair offer looks like, then negotiates it for you. Buying with Greg
Who handles your sale or purchase?
Greg Toussieng handles each client himself. He is a California real estate broker, DRE #01495415, first licensed in California in 2005, and the Gregory James Group is licensed as a corporation under DRE #01822046. You can check both records on the California Department of Real Estate's public licence lookup, and the licensing page links straight to them.
The work follows the same order wherever the home is. For a seller, Greg starts with a written price analysis from recent nearby sales, walks the home room by room to plan preparation, books architectural photography and sets the launch date. For a buyer, he pulls the sales around each home you like, tells you what he thinks it is worth and why, and negotiates the price, repairs and credits. He attends the showings himself and stays on the file through closing, so the person who priced the home is the one answering the other agent's questions in escrow.
Greg prepares a written valuation from recent sales near you. Start with the address.
Common questions
What is the median home price in Orange County?
The Orange County median sale price for September 2026 was $1,207,298, from Redfin Data Center. That single number blends studio condos with harbour estates across 34 cities, so it says little about one street. The city table on this page breaks it down, and the monthly market report shows how the county figure has moved over the past two years.
Is Orange County a buyer's or seller's market right now?
Orange County homes sold at 98.8% of list price in September 2026. When that figure sits at or above 100 percent and homes go under contract within a few weeks, sellers hold the edge. When price cuts spread and listings sit, buyers do. The answer often differs between a coastal city and an inland one in the same month.
Which Orange County cities are the most and least expensive?
The coastal cities, led by Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, carry the county's highest median prices, and the older inland cities carry the lowest. The order shifts a little each month as the mix of homes sold changes. The city table on this page lists each built city's median for the latest month, with its source.
Should I buy a condo or a house in Orange County?
A condo usually costs less to buy and more each month once HOA dues are added. Compare the full monthly cost of each option, including dues, any Mello-Roos special tax, insurance and the 1 percent base property tax, rather than the purchase price alone. Then check whether the condo project is approved for the loan you plan to use.
What are Mello-Roos fees in Orange County?
Mello-Roos is a special tax charged inside a Community Facilities District, created under California's Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982, to pay for roads, schools, parks and other public works. It appears on the property tax bill on top of the 1 percent base rate. Newer tracts in Irvine and south county often carry it, and the seller must disclose it.
How do I search every home for sale in Orange County?
The home search on this site is being connected to the regional MLS. Until it goes live, tell Greg the cities, price range and type of home you want and he will send matching listings as they come on the market, along with the recent sales around each one so you can judge the asking price.
Does the Gregory James Group work across all of Orange County?
The Gregory James Group represents buyers and sellers across Orange County from its Santa Ana office, with full guides so far for Newport Beach, Irvine and Santa Ana. Greg Toussieng is a California real estate broker, DRE #01495415, and handles each client himself, from the first price analysis through closing.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Orange County, California (2020 population) · checked 2026-10-28
- Orange County, California (34 cities, 1889 formation, coastline) · checked 2026-10-28
- California Government Code §53311: Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 · checked 2026-10-28
- California State Board of Equalization: Proposition 13 and the 1% base rate · checked 2026-10-28
- Orange County Assessor: supplemental assessments · checked 2026-10-28
- HUD FHA approved condominium search · checked 2026-10-28
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: condo approval for VA loans · checked 2026-10-28
- Newport Beach, California (eight artificial harbour islands) · checked 2026-10-28
- Irvine, California (incorporation 1971, villages, Mello-Roos in 1980s-and-later villages) · checked 2026-10-28
- City of Santa Ana: Historic Preservation (National Register districts) · 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.