Cliffhaven

What Cliffhaven actually is

Cliffhaven is a small bluff-top neighborhood in Newport Heights, Newport Beach 92663, on the streets above Coast Highway looking south across the harbor. In the MLS it is its own subdivision, Cliffhaven, inside area N6. The streets are Cliff Drive, Kings Road, Kings Place, Saint James Road and Place, Saint Andrews Road, Signal Road, Snug Harbor Road and Pirate Road.

It is not gated and it has no homeowners association. Every listing reports HOA dues of $0 and land lease: no. There is no board, no dues and no design review. That matters here more than usual, because a lot of what trades in Cliffhaven gets rebuilt.

The housing stock spans 1950 to 2025. Original postwar homes, 1990s and 2000s rebuilds, and brand new construction sit side by side on the same block.

The lots are all the same size. That is the whole story.

Here is the thing about Cliffhaven that changes how you should read every listing.

Across thirteen closed sales in the last two years, lot sizes ran from 6,890 to 9,100 square feet, with a median of 7,540. That is a tight band. In most Newport neighborhoods lot size is the wild variable. Here it is nearly a constant.

Which means what you are actually buying in Cliffhaven is a roughly 7,500 square foot lot on a bluff street, and the house standing on it is the variable. And you can see that in the data with unusual clarity:

• Homes under 2,200 square feet: four sales, median price $3,470,800, at a median of $2,538 per square foot.
• Homes over 4,000 square feet: five sales, median price $5,700,000, at a median of $1,084 per square foot.

The small homes trade at 2.3 times the rate per square foot of the large ones. That is not a pricing anomaly, it is the market telling you that a 1,146 square foot 1950 cottage on Pirate Road that closed at $3,003 per foot was a land sale with a house on it, and a 5,630 square foot home on Cliff Drive that closed at $755 per foot was a house sale on the same size lot.

Never use price per square foot to compare Cliffhaven homes of different sizes. It will tell you the opposite of the truth. Compare the lot, the street and the view, then value the improvement separately.

A home just came back on the market for $795,001 less than it sold for

Every other neighborhood I have documented shows the same pattern at the top: homes that sold recently reappearing at higher asks. Cliffhaven has the opposite, and it is the most instructive listing in the neighborhood right now.

A home on Signal Road closed at $6,795,000 after 15 days on market. The same address, same 3,858 square feet, same 2016 year built, is on the market now at $5,999,999. That is $795,001 below what it traded for, and it has been out 78 agent days against 156 cumulative.

The MLS gives one clue worth noting: that listing reports view: no, while most Cliffhaven listings report view: yes. In a bluff neighborhood, that is not a small thing.

I am not going to speculate about the seller's situation. What I will say is that a price below a recent arm's length sale on the same house is real information, it is public, and any buyer looking at Cliffhaven should have it in front of them.

How Cliffhaven actually prices

Thirteen homes closed here in the last twenty four months.

Closed prices ran from $2,950,000 to $12,700,000, with a median of $4,252,500.

Price per square foot ran from $755.33 to $3,003.14, with a median of $1,482.17. Read the section above before you use that number.

Living space ran from 1,146 to 7,567 square feet, with a median of 3,613. Lot size ran from 6,890 to 9,100, with a median of 7,540.

Days on market had a median of 17, with a range of 0 to 146. Three of the thirteen sales closed at zero or one day on market. Cliffhaven is a small, tightly held neighborhood and the good ones go quickly.

The top of the market is new construction. A 2025 build on Saint James Place closed at $12,700,000, which is nearly three times the neighborhood median. That single sale is the clearest statement available about what the land here supports.

What the market is telling you right now

• Saint James Place, 3,506 square feet on a 9,100 foot lot, built 1953, $4,699,000, 15 days
• Kings Place, 4,378 square feet on 11,250 feet, built 1994, $5,600,000, 147 days
• Signal Road, 3,858 square feet on 8,670 feet, built 2016, $5,999,999, 78 days against 156 cumulative. This is the one that closed at $6,795,000.
• Kings Road, 4,861 square feet on 8,100 feet, built 2017, $9,999,000, 154 days
• Saint Andrews Road, 6,497 square feet on a 6,710 foot lot, delivering 2026, $10,800,000, 91 days

Note the Kings Place listing at 147 days on an 11,250 square foot lot, the largest lot in the data set. And note the Saint Andrews new build asking $10,800,000 on the smallest lot in the data set, 6,710 feet. Those two are the clearest test of whether buyers here are paying for land or for the house, and after five months neither has answered it.

What I would check before writing an offer here

• The view, from which rooms, and what protects it. Listings report view yes or no and nothing more. On a bluff street that binary hides everything that matters.
• The prior sale price. One current listing is asking nearly $800,000 below its own recent sale.
• The lot dimensions, not just the square footage. Lots here are all roughly the same size, so shape, frontage and slope are what separate them.
• What you can build. No association and no design review means the constraint is the City of Newport Beach. Height limits on a bluff street are the question. Get the answer before you buy, not after.
• Permits on anything renovated, and the age of the systems on anything original. Stock here runs 1950 to 2025.
• Cumulative days on market. Two current listings show large gaps, 78 against 156 and 17 against 98 on a recent sale.
• Whether you are buying a house or a lot, and pricing it accordingly. In Cliffhaven those are two different transactions that look identical in a listing.

Questions people ask about Cliffhaven

Does Cliffhaven have an HOA?
No. Every listing reports HOA dues of $0. There is no association, no dues and no design review.

Is Cliffhaven gated?
No. It is an open neighborhood of public streets.

Where is Cliffhaven?
In Newport Heights, Newport Beach 92663, on the bluff above Coast Highway. In the MLS it is the Cliffhaven subdivision inside area N6.

What streets are in Cliffhaven?
Cliff Drive, Kings Road, Kings Place, Saint James Road and Place, Saint Andrews Road, Signal Road, Snug Harbor Road and Pirate Road.

What do homes in Cliffhaven cost?
Thirteen homes closed in the last two years between $2,950,000 and $12,700,000, with a median of $4,252,500. Five are on the market between $4,699,000 and $10,800,000.

What is the price per square foot?
Closed sales ran from $755.33 to $3,003.14 with a median of $1,482.17. Be careful with that number: small homes here trade at more than twice the rate per foot of large ones, because the lot is the constant.

How big are the lots?
Between 6,890 and 9,100 square feet, with a median of 7,540. Unusually consistent for Newport Beach.

How big are the homes?
Recent sales ran from 1,146 to 7,567 square feet, with a median of 3,613.

How old are the homes?
Recent sales carry assessor years from 1950 to 2025. Original postwar homes and new construction sit on the same streets.

How fast do homes sell in Cliffhaven?
The median was 17 days, with a range of 0 to 146. Three of thirteen sales closed at zero or one day.

Is Cliffhaven on a land lease?
No. Every listing reports land lease: no.

Do homes in Cliffhaven get torn down and rebuilt?
Frequently. The most expensive sale in two years was a 2025 build that closed at $12,700,000, and there is a 2026 new build on the market at $10,800,000. Meanwhile a 1,146 square foot 1950 home closed at $3,441,600, which is a land price.

Is anything currently priced below its last sale?
Yes. A home on Signal Road that closed at $6,795,000 is on the market now at $5,999,999. That listing reports no view, while most Cliffhaven listings report a view.

Do all Cliffhaven homes have views?
Most listings report a view, but not all, and the MLS records it as a simple yes or no. What that view actually is varies enormously by street and elevation. Stand in the room.