Sea Island is a gated community of attached homes on Sea Island Drive in Newport Beach, reached from Jamboree Road by turning east on Ford Road. The homes date to 1977, and the county assessor still carries that year on every unit that has traded here recently. They are condominiums and townhomes in the legal sense, with two or more common walls and, on most plans, no one living above you. Sizes run from roughly 1,526 to 2,388 square feet across two, three and four bedroom layouts.
One detail is worth getting right before anything else, because it is reported incorrectly all over the internet. Sea Island does not overlook the Newport Beach Country Club course. It overlooks Big Canyon Country Club. Listing agents who have actually stood in these rooms describe views over the fifth and sixth fairways of Big Canyon. Every Sea Island listing I pulled from the MLS covering the last twenty four months references Big Canyon. None of them reference Newport Beach Country Club. If you are comparing Sea Island to Villa Point, you are comparing two different golf courses on two different sides of Newport Center.
Security is real rather than decorative. Listings here report a gated community with twenty four hour security, card and code access, automatic gates, fire sprinklers and monitored smoke and fire detection. That combination shows up in the structured security fields of the MLS, not just in marketing copy, which means an agent had to affirmatively select it.
Ford Road and Jamboree puts you inside the Big Canyon envelope, a few minutes from Fashion Island, close to Corona del Mar's beaches, and near enough to John Wayne Airport and the 73 toll road that a weekday commute out of Newport is genuinely workable. That last part matters more than buyers expect. A lot of Newport inventory at this price is coastal and beautiful and forty five minutes from anything with a runway. Sea Island is not.
The golf course frontage is the pricing engine here. Homes with a view sell differently from homes without one, and the MLS carries a simple yes or no view flag that makes the gap visible. Of the eight Sea Island homes that closed in the last two years, the one that traded lowest per square foot was flagged view: no. That is one data point rather than a law, but it lines up with what I see when I walk buyers through the community.
Sea Island is also not on a land lease. Every listing I checked reports land lease: no. That sounds like a small thing until you have watched a buyer fall in love with a nearby Newport community and then discover the ground rent, the expiration date and what it does to financing. In this pocket of Newport Beach, fee simple land is a real advantage worth naming out loud.
Association dues at Sea Island are reported at $800 per month on nine of the ten listings that have been active, pending or closed here in the last two years. One 2025 closing reported $725 per month. Treat $800 as the working number and verify the exact figure for your specific unit in escrow, because it is the association, not the MLS, that is authoritative.
What the dues cover, according to the amenity fields agents completed on those same listings:
Association coverage is reported inconsistently from listing to listing, which is normal and is worth knowing rather than glossing over. One listing reports insurance included. Several report water. Several do not. The association names cited also vary, with most listings naming Sea Island Community Association and at least one naming a separate Sea Island McLain association. Before you write an offer, ask which association your specific unit belongs to and request that association's own budget, reserve study and insurance certificate. Two units on the same street can sit under different governing documents.
For context on the number itself: $800 a month is $9,600 a year, which on a $1,450,000 purchase is roughly two thirds of a percent of value annually. For a gated, guarded, professionally managed community with a pool, spa and courts in this part of Newport Beach, that is a market rate figure. It is not a bargain and it is not a red flag.
Here is the twenty four month record from the MLS, which is the part you will not find assembled anywhere else.
Eight closed sales. Prices ran from $1,275,000 to $1,750,000, with a median of $1,432,500.
Price per square foot on those closings ran from $661.64 to $977.40, with a median around $830. That is a wide band for one small community, and the spread is mostly explained by view, size and condition. The lowest per foot number belongs to the largest home, at 2,388 square feet, which is the usual pattern: bigger homes almost always trade at a lower rate per foot.
Sale to list ratio ran from 96.7 percent to 100.8 percent, with a median near 98.5 percent. Yes, one home closed above ask. Six of the eight closed below.
Days on market had a median of about 16 days on the agent clock, with a range of 3 to 193. Sea Island moves quickly when it is priced correctly and it sits for a long time when it is not, with very little in between.
Now the number almost nobody shows you. Agent days on market and cumulative days on market are not the same thing here. One home closed showing 12 agent days but 239 cumulative days. Another showed 24 against 116. One of the two homes on the market right now shows 18 days against 206 cumulative. What that gap means is that the listing was withdrawn and relisted, which resets the number a buyer sees on the public portals while the cumulative clock keeps counting. If you are evaluating whether a Sea Island home is fresh or stale, the agent day count will mislead you and the cumulative count will not.
Seller concessions are the norm here, not the exception. Seven of the eight closed sales recorded a seller concession, ranging from $26,980 to $57,625, or roughly 2 to 4.4 percent of the close price. Only one closing recorded zero. An important caveat: since the 2024 changes to how buyer agent compensation is handled, this MLS field frequently captures seller paid buyer broker compensation rather than a repair credit or a rate buydown. So the presence of a concession does not automatically mean the seller discounted the home. It does mean you should ask what each concession actually covered before you use a comparable sale to argue price.
Two homes are on the market at Sea Island as I write this.
Set those against the closed record. The highest price per square foot any Sea Island home has actually achieved in two years is $977.40. Both current asks are at or above that ceiling, and one of them is roughly 26 percent above the closed median of $830 per foot. Add the 73 days and the 206 cumulative days and you have a fairly clear picture: sellers here are asking ahead of the proven market, and the market has so far declined to follow.
For a buyer, that is not bad news. It means there is a negotiation to be had and a defensible argument to make with real comparable sales behind it. For a seller, it means the homes that price against the closed record rather than against the neighbor's aspiration are the ones closing in single digit days.
What are the HOA dues at Sea Island?
Dues are reported at $800 per month on nine of the ten Sea Island listings in the MLS over the last two years. One 2025 closing reported $725. Verify the current figure for your specific unit with the association during escrow.
What golf course does Sea Island overlook?
Big Canyon Country Club, not Newport Beach Country Club. Listings here describe views over the fifth and sixth fairways of Big Canyon. Villa Point is the Newport Beach Country Club community. The two are commonly confused.
Is Sea Island gated?
Yes. Listings report a gated community with twenty four hour security, card and code access, and automatic gates.
Is Sea Island on a land lease?
No. Every listing I checked reports land lease: no. The land is fee simple.
Are there tennis courts?
Yes. Tennis courts are reported in the association amenities on most listings. One recent listing also reports pickleball.
Is there a pool?
Yes. Pool and spa or hot tub are reported on every Sea Island listing I reviewed.
When was Sea Island built?
1977, according to the assessor record carried on every recent Sea Island listing.
What do homes in Sea Island cost?
Eight homes closed in the last two years between $1,275,000 and $1,750,000, with a median of $1,432,500. Two homes are currently on the market at $1,595,000 and $1,680,000.
What is the price per square foot in Sea Island?
Closed sales over the last two years ran from $661.64 to $977.40 per square foot, with a median near $830. Homes currently on the market are asking between $952 and $1,045 per square foot.
How fast do homes sell in Sea Island?
The median was about 16 agent days on market, but the range was 3 to 193 days. Check cumulative days on market rather than agent days, because several Sea Island listings have been withdrawn and relisted.
How many bedrooms do Sea Island homes have?
Two, three and four bedroom plans have traded here in the last two years, ranging from about 1,526 to 2,388 square feet.
Do sellers in Sea Island offer concessions?
Seven of the eight sales that closed in the last two years recorded a seller concession, between $26,980 and $57,625. Since 2024 this field often reflects seller paid buyer broker compensation rather than a credit to the buyer, so ask what each one covered before treating it as a discount.
Are Sea Island homes condos or townhomes?
They are legally condominiums and are described as townhomes in most listings. Plans typically report two or more common walls with no one living above.
Is Sea Island close to Fashion Island and the beach?
Yes. Fashion Island is a short drive, Corona del Mar's beaches are close, and John Wayne Airport and the 73 toll road are both easily reachable, which is unusual for Newport Beach property at this price.