Huntington Beach is the second-busiest city in Orange County and the steadiest market on the coast. This page is the seasonal calendar behind it, built on Zillow Research data so it holds true all year.
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Huntington Beach is a large city with a wide price range, from inland tract homes to Seacliff and Huntington Harbour waterfront, and that mix smooths the seasonal extremes you see in Irvine or Newport Beach. The average home here closes within about one percent of its asking price in every month of the year. Spring buyers push that to essentially list price; winter buyers pull it about a point under. The gap between the best and worst month to sell is roughly one percent of price and one week of time, the smallest of any city on this site.
The direction over the past three years has been a mild softening. Inventory has grown, price cuts have become more common in the fall, and the average sale has drifted a few tenths of a percent further under asking. What has held up is the share of homes selling above list, which has slipped far less than in Irvine or the county as a whole. That is the clearest sign of steady, local demand, and it is why Huntington Beach forgives a timing mistake better than its neighbors.
Huntington Beach is the second-busiest city in Orange County by closed sales, and three years of Zillow Research data averaged by calendar month show a market with the flattest seasonal curve of any city on this site. The spring peak is real, the winter dip is real, but neither is dramatic, and the average home closes within about one percent of its asking price all year.
The share of Huntington Beach homes closing above asking climbs steadily from winter to a July peak, then eases through the fall. The whole curve sits in a narrower band than Irvine or the county, which is the signature of a market with consistent, local demand.
Share of Huntington Beach homes that closed above their list price, three-year average by month of closing. Source: Zillow Research. Darkest bar is the seasonal high; the outlined bar is the low.
| The question | The month | What the data shows |
|---|---|---|
| Best month to sell for top dollar | July | Sale-to-list peaks in July at essentially list price. The median price reads highest in December, but that is the mix of homes closing rather than stronger pricing. |
| Best month to buy with the least competition | December | About 28% of homes close above list, versus 42% in July. |
| Best month for a buyer to negotiate | December and January | The average home closes close to one percent under its final list price. |
| Best month to list for the fastest sale | Mid March | April pendings take about two weeks at the median. December pendings take a little over three. |
| Most price cuts on the market | September and October | About one in four active listings has been reduced, up from about one in six in February. |
| Most new listings | May | New listings run about 60% higher than in January. Inventory peaks in July at roughly 1.4 times the February low, the smallest seasonal swing of any city here. |
Huntington Beach is a large city with a broad price range, from inland tract homes to Huntington Harbour waterfront, and the mix smooths out the seasonal extremes you see in Irvine or Newport. What that means in practice is that the calendar matters less here than pricing does. A home priced to the last real comparable sells in any month; a home priced to hope sits in any month.
Over the past three years Huntington Beach has softened less than Irvine and about as much as the county. Inventory has grown, price cuts have become more common in the fall, and the average sale has drifted a few tenths of a percent further under asking. The share of homes selling above list has held up better than in most of the county, which is the clearest sign of steady local demand.
For buyers comparing Huntington Beach with Newport Beach, the seasonal data makes the contrast plain. Newport's average sale closes two to four percent under asking depending on the month; Huntington Beach's closes within about one percent all year. Huntington Beach is the market where a well-priced home still draws multiple offers in spring, and where a buyer's winter advantage is modest rather than large.
Comparing Huntington Beach with Newport? Read the side-by-side, or request a private read on your own home.
Because the years before them do not describe a normal calendar. Between February 2020 and the end of 2023, Zillow's home value index for Huntington Beach rose about 48% after two nearly flat years, mortgage rates went from under three percent to over seven, and in the spring of 2022 70% of homes here closed above their asking price with the typical sale going under contract in about 8 days. Fold those months into a seasonal average and every spring reads like a frenzy and every winter like a collapse. Neither describes the market you are in now.
The averages on this page start in January 2024, the first year after that window, and gain a year each time a normal one is added. The full series from 2018 onward, with every chart, is here for anyone who wants to check the reasoning.
Based on three years of Zillow Research data for Huntington Beach, July is the strongest month to close: the sale-to-list ratio peaks at essentially asking price and 42% of homes close above list. To close in July, list in late May or June. Homes going under contract in April move fastest, so mid March is the window if speed matters most.
December and January. About 28% of homes close above list in December, the lowest share of the year, and the average sale runs close to one percent under asking. The winter advantage in Huntington Beach is real but smaller than in Irvine or Newport Beach.
In summer, about four in ten do; in winter, closer to three in ten. Averaged across the year, the typical Huntington Beach home closes within about one percent of its list price, which is the tightest range of any coastal Orange County city in Zillow Research's data.
Zillow's median days to pending for Huntington Beach averages about two weeks for homes going under contract in April and a little over three weeks for December. The seasonal gap is the narrowest on the coast, and the typical time to contract has changed less over the past three years than in any other city tracked here.
Huntington Beach sits closer to balanced than most of the coast and has moved less than Irvine or the county over the past three years. Inventory has grown and fall price cuts are more common, but the share of homes selling above asking has held up. Spring still favors sellers; winter gives buyers a modest edge.
Seasonal figures on this section are three-year averages by calendar month, calculated from Zillow Research's published monthly series for the city of Huntington Beach (city series): median sale price, mean sale-to-list ratio, share of homes sold above list price, median days to pending, share of active listings with a price cut, new listings, and active inventory. Zillow's monthly series are smoothed three-month averages, which is why they are used here for pattern rather than for any single month's headline. You can chart the same series yourself in Zillow's Market Explorer.
Averaging window: January 2024 through June 2026. The section is refreshed once a year when a full new calendar year of Zillow data is available; the Orange County, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa pages layer a monthly CRMLS snapshot on top of this same pattern. Zillow is an independent source and is not affiliated with Jade Larney or Anvil Real Estate.
"Is Huntington Beach the value play on the coast?"
Against Newport Beach, yes. Newport's average sale closes two to four percent under asking depending on the month; Huntington Beach's closes within about one percent all year. The winter advantage for buyers here is modest, so the better lever is condition and the inland-versus-beach location gradient, not the calendar.
The signal to watchThe share of homes selling above asking. When it drops below three in ten, buyers have their best footing.
Buyer strategy →"I own in Huntington Beach. When do I list?"
Late May or June for a July close, when the sale-to-list ratio peaks and four in ten homes close above asking. For the fastest sale, mid March: April pendings move in about two weeks. September and October carry the most price cuts, so a listing that has not sold by then needs a hard look at its price.
The signal to watchDays on market against the city median. In a market this steady, a listing that sits is almost always a pricing problem.
Seller strategy →"I'm 55+ in Newport, and Huntington Beach keeps the beach in my life."
Huntington Beach is the right-size destination that still puts the ocean within a bike ride, and the calendar cooperates: sell into Newport's April window, then buy here between October and January. General education, not tax or legal advice; the Proposition 19 specifics are planned with your CPA or attorney.
The signal to watchThe spread between what you sell for in Newport and what you buy for here. Proposition 19 lets you keep your tax base on an equal or lesser value purchase.
The Prop 19 downsizing plan →One email a month on what actually closed in Huntington Beach, what sat, and what it means for the decision in front of you. No listing dumps, no pressure.
Huntington Beach is the coastal market where pricing beats timing, and where a well-prepared listing still draws multiple offers in spring. If you want the pattern on this page applied to your own home or your next purchase, that conversation is the next step.