Costa Mesa

What Costa Mesa is, measured

Costa Mesa is the mesa behind Newport Beach: the flat ground between the Santa Ana River on the west and the 55 and John Wayne Airport on the east, with Newport Beach across Irvine Avenue and the 55 to the south and Santa Ana across the 405 to the north. It is the inland half of the Newport-Mesa school district, the city with South Coast Plaza, the Segerstrom Center, the Orange County Fairgrounds, Orange Coast College and the Mesa Verde Country Club inside its limits, and the one where much of coastal Orange County's daily life happens: the 17th Street corridor, The Camp and The Lab on Bristol, Fairview Park and the Talbert trails down to the river path and the sand. Newport Harbor High, Costa Mesa High and Estancia High split the city in Newport-Mesa Unified, and zips 92626 and 92627 split it north and south.

The housing is mostly what was built when the bean fields went: 1950s and 1960s single-story ranch houses on 6,000 to 7,500 square foot lots in long straight tracts, with pockets of 1970s attached product around South Coast Metro, and, over the last decade, a wave of small lot new construction where an original parcel has been split and two or three tall houses stand where one ranch did. People who live here surf before work, bike the Back Bay from the Eastside, and are in Newport in ten minutes without paying Newport's number.

Costa Mesa is not one market. The MLS divides it into five areas, and those five behave differently enough that a citywide median is close to useless for valuing any specific house.

I pulled every listing recorded across all five Costa Mesa MLS areas over the last two years. That is 1,305 listings, 1,143 of them closed sales, which makes this the largest dataset on the site by a wide margin.

Citywide, closed sales ran $348,000 to $6,470,000 with a median of $1,485,000, at $848 per square foot, 1,690 square feet and a median lot of 6,650 square feet. Homes date from 1890 to 2027. The median sale took 13 days.

Who buys here, and why

Four buyers, and each one has a side of the city. The first is the Newport buyer crossing Irvine Avenue: families who want Newport Harbor High, the Back Bay and the 17th Street life at two thirds of the Newport Heights price, and who buy the Eastside's 1950s ranch houses to live in or to rebuild. This buyer is why the Eastside is the most expensive and the fastest area in the city.

The second is the family who wants the big lot and the pool and does not need the Newport zip: Mesa Verde, with the country club, the wide 1960s tracts off Adams and Mesa Verde Drive, and lots over 7,000 square feet. This buyer is buying land and a single story, and Mesa Verde clears in 11 days with almost no HOA dues.

The third is the first-time and move-up buyer on the Westside and in Central Costa Mesa, who wants a detached house on a real lot under a million and a half, close to Fairview Park, the river trail and the beach at Huntington. This is also where the builders are, cutting original lots in half for the tall new homes with shared driveways that carry dues.

The fourth is the attached-home buyer in South Coast Metro and the Country Club Villas and Iowa Street pockets, buying the cheapest way into the district near the 405 and South Coast Plaza. This is the city's entry level and the only real one left in coastal Orange County.

What separates Costa Mesa from the cities around it is the combination of ground and age. Newport Beach next door has the water and prices from it; Costa Mesa has no shoreline, so its premium comes from position and schools, which is why the Eastside outprices the Westside on smaller lots. Irvine across the 55 is master planned, newer, in a different school district and carries dues and Mello-Roos on nearly everything; Costa Mesa is 1960s tracts with no association on most of them. Huntington Beach across the river has the sand and a lower price per foot. Costa Mesa is the one place where a buyer gets a fee simple ranch house on a 7,000 square foot lot, no dues, Newport-Mesa schools and a ten minute drive to the harbor, and that is why it closes at ask.

The finding: the median Costa Mesa sale closes at exactly the asking price

Of the 1,143 closed sales:

• 412 closed above the asking price.
• 181 closed at exactly the asking price.
• 550 closed below.

The median outcome is 0.00 percent, and 593 of 1,143 sales, 52 percent, met or beat the asking price.

The speed data is even more striking. One hundred and twelve sales closed at zero days on market. Five hundred and thirteen of 1,143, 45 percent, closed within ten days. Only 50 took more than a hundred.

Set that against the coastal end of the county from these guides. In Corona del Mar, 69 percent of sales closed below ask. In Newport Coast, 80 percent did, at a median of 3.92 percent under. Costa Mesa closes at zero, and nearly half of everything sells inside two weeks.

The practical instruction for a buyer is unambiguous. An offer meaningfully below asking on a well presented Costa Mesa house is very likely wasted. The leverage in this city is not in the negotiation, it is in choosing the right area, which is where the money is.

The five Costa Mesas

Here is every MLS area, using recorded closed sales:

• Eastside (C5), 323 sales. Median $1,900,000, range $699,000 to $6,470,000. 1,657 sf, $1,071 per square foot, 6,481 sf lot, 11 days, median year built 1964.
• Mesa Verde (C1), 234 sales. Median $1,759,000, range $630,000 to $4,350,000. 2,084 sf, $879 per square foot, 7,125 sf lot, 11 days, median year 1963.
• South Coast Metro (C3), 174 sales. Median $1,340,000, range $348,000 to $2,350,000. 1,787 sf, $720 per square foot, 6,120 sf lot, 13.5 days, median year 1972.
• Central Costa Mesa (C4), 185 sales. Median $1,300,000, range $463,000 to $2,415,000. 1,501 sf, $781 per square foot, 6,528 sf lot, 16 days, median year 1964.
• Westside (C2), 227 sales. Median $1,250,000, range $692,500 to $2,510,000. 1,589 sf, $737 per square foot, 7,150 sf lot, 13 days, median year 1978.

Two comparisons in that table are worth stopping on.

Eastside costs $1,071 per square foot and South Coast Metro costs $720. That is a 49 percent premium for the same city, on lots within 400 square feet of each other, and Eastside is also the faster of the two.

And the one almost nobody prices correctly: Westside lots are bigger than Eastside lots, 7,150 square feet against 6,481, and Westside houses sell for $650,000 less. Same city, same school district, more land, a third off. Whatever you think Eastside is worth, understand that you are not paying for the dirt. You are paying for Irvine Avenue, the Back Bay and the Newport Harbor High boundary.

The oldest houses cost the most per foot, and the new ones take twice as long

Splitting all 1,143 closed sales by the year the house was built:

• Built before 1960: 316 sales, median $1,597,000, 1,533 square feet, $1,070 per square foot, 7,199 square foot lot, 11 days.
• Built 1960 to 1969: 342 sales, median $1,600,000, 1,788 square feet, $868 per square foot, 6,510 square foot lot, 11 days.
• Built 1970 to 1999: 319 sales, median $1,139,000, 1,557 square feet, $721 per square foot, 6,104 square foot lot, 12 days.
• Built 2000 or later: 166 sales, median $1,574,950, 2,057 square feet, $761 per square foot, 4,530 square foot lot, 26.5 days.

Read the lot column. Every older cohort sits on 6,100 to 7,200 square feet. The 2000-and-later houses sit on 4,530. That is the whole story of the last twenty five years in this city: original parcels being subdivided into small lot infill.

And the new product does not get a premium for it. It closes at $761 per square foot against $1,070 for a pre-1960 house, and it takes more than twice as long to sell, 26.5 days against 11.

The buyer takeaway is the same one that shows up in every Costa Mesa neighborhood measured separately. The old small house on the big lot is the expensive purchase per square foot and the fast one. The new large house on the small lot is the cheap purchase per square foot and the slow one. Those are different products competing for different buyers, and comparing them on price per foot will mislead you every time.

Costa Mesa still has a real market under a million dollars

Two hundred and four of the 1,143 closed sales, 18 percent, closed below $1,000,000, at a median of $845,000.

The lowest recorded close in two years is $348,000 in South Coast Metro. The lowest current asking price citywide is $435,000.

That matters because it makes Costa Mesa one of the very few markets in coastal Orange County where a genuine entry level purchase still exists. For comparison, the lowest recorded close in Corona del Mar over the same window was $867,500, in Newport Coast $1,230,000, and on Lido Isle $2,100,000.

The sub-million inventory is concentrated in the attached product: South Coast Metro, the Iowa Street and Country Club Villas pockets of Mesa Verde, and the condominium tracts on the Westside.

Roughly two in five listings carry HOA dues

Five hundred of the 1,305 listings carry an association fee. That is 38 percent, and it is not evenly spread.

The detached original tracts, which are most of Mesa Verde, most of the Eastside and most of Central Costa Mesa, overwhelmingly have none. Mesa Verde has fees on only 28 of 262 listings.

The dues are concentrated in two places: the older attached communities such as South Coast Metro, Country Club Villas and the Iowa Street units, and the recent small lot new construction, where a shared driveway and shared utilities require an association. On the Westside, 59 of the 62 homes built in 2015 or later carry a fee.

So in Costa Mesa the association question tracks the vintage and the lot size, not the price. If you are buying a 1960s house on a 7,000 square foot lot you will usually have no dues. If you are buying a 2020 house on a 3,000 square foot lot you almost certainly will.

What is on the market right now

As of November 1, 2026: one hundred and twenty active listings and five coming soon, nineteen in the under contract range and seventeen pending.

Actives run $415,000 to $4,695,000.

Against 1,143 sales in two years, that inventory is about two and a half months of supply, still thin. Combined with a median sale time of 13 days and 52 percent of sales meeting or beating ask, this is a seller's market by every measure.

The two highest recorded closes are both on the Eastside: 361 22nd Street at $6,470,000, a 2007 build, and a 2025 build at $5,500,000.

The Costa Mesa neighborhood guides

The area figures above are still averages of many different tracts. These are the individual Costa Mesa neighborhoods measured in detail, each with its own guide:

• Eastside Costa Mesa, the largest and most expensive area, where pre-1960 houses trade at $1,328 per square foot in 10 days.
• Mesa Verde, where 79 percent of recent sales were built between 1955 and 1969.
• Westside Costa Mesa, where original lots are being cut roughly in half and 95 percent of new construction carries dues.
• South Coast Metro, where townhomes are both the cheapest per foot and the fastest to sell.
• Mesa del Mar, at a median 7 days on market, the fastest tract measured anywhere.
• Halecrest, where homes under 1,400 square feet and homes over 1,700 both closed at a median of $1,300,000.
• Freedom Homes, where 26 of 35 recent sales were built in 1954.
• College Park, where five homes traded twice in two years and every one resold higher.
• The State Streets, where 575 more square feet cost only $57,500 more.

What I check before writing an offer in Costa Mesa

• Which of the five areas the address is in, before any comparable. Eastside medians $1,900,000 and Westside medians $1,250,000, and the Westside lots are bigger.
• Not opening low. The median sale closes at exactly the asking price and 52 percent meet or beat it. Forty five percent of all sales close within ten days.
• Where the leverage is: the new construction. It takes a median of 26.5 days against 11 for the original stock.
• The lot size against the vintage. A 2000-and-later house here medians a 4,530 square foot lot; anything older medians 6,100 to 7,200.
• Dues, asked rather than assumed. Thirty eight percent of listings carry them, concentrated in attached communities and small lot new builds.
• No price per square foot across areas or vintages. It runs $720 in South Coast Metro and $1,071 on the Eastside, and $761 for new construction against $1,070 for pre-1960.
• The neighborhood guide for the specific tract. The area medians above still hide very large differences between tracts inside them.
• School assignment, with the district directly. Boundaries are set by Newport Mesa Unified and they do change.

Frequently asked questions about Costa Mesa

What do homes sell for in Costa Mesa?
1,143 closed sales over the last two years ranged $348,000 to $6,470,000 with a citywide median of $1,485,000. By area the medians run from $1,250,000 on the Westside to $1,900,000 on the Eastside.

Which part of Costa Mesa is most expensive?
The Eastside, at a median of $1,900,000 and $1,071 per square foot. Mesa Verde is next at $1,759,000.

Which part is least expensive?
The Westside at a median of $1,250,000, then Central Costa Mesa at $1,300,000 and South Coast Metro at $1,340,000. South Coast Metro has the lowest recorded close at $348,000.

Why does the Eastside cost more than the Westside if the lots are smaller?
That is exactly the anomaly. Eastside lots median 6,481 square feet and Westside lots median 7,150, and Eastside houses still close for about $650,000 more. The premium is position and demand rather than land: Irvine Avenue, the Back Bay, 17th Street and the Newport Harbor High boundary.

How fast do homes sell in Costa Mesa?
Median 13 days. One hundred and twelve of 1,143 closed sales went at zero days on market and 513, or 45 percent, closed within ten days. Only 50 took more than a hundred.

Do homes sell above asking price in Costa Mesa?
Frequently. Four hundred and twelve of 1,143 closed above list and another 181 closed at exactly list, so 52 percent of sales met or beat the asking price. The median outcome is 0.00 percent.

Is Costa Mesa a seller's market?
By the numbers, yes. The median sale closes at ask in 13 days, half of all sales meet or beat ask, and current inventory is about two and a half months of supply.

Can you still buy a home in Costa Mesa under $1,000,000?
Yes. Two hundred and four of 1,143 recent closed sales, 18 percent, closed below a million, at a median of $845,000. The lowest current asking price is $435,000. That inventory is mostly attached homes in South Coast Metro, Mesa Verde and the Westside.

What is the price per square foot in Costa Mesa?
Citywide median $848, but by area it runs $720 in South Coast Metro, $737 on the Westside, $781 in Central Costa Mesa, $879 in Mesa Verde and $1,071 on the Eastside.

How old are Costa Mesa homes?
Recorded sales span 1890 to 2027. Three hundred and sixteen recent sales were built before 1960, 342 in the 1960s, 319 between 1970 and 1999 and 166 in 2000 or later.

Is new construction a good buy in Costa Mesa?
It is cheaper per square foot and larger, at $761 per foot and 2,057 square feet against $1,070 and 1,533 for a pre-1960 house. But it sits on a 4,530 square foot lot rather than 7,199, and it takes 26.5 days to sell rather than 11. They are different products.

Do Costa Mesa homes have HOA dues?
Thirty eight percent of listings carry a fee. The original detached tracts mostly have none, while attached communities and recent small lot construction almost always do. On the Westside, 59 of 62 homes built in 2015 or later carry a fee.

How big are Costa Mesa lots?
Citywide median 6,650 square feet. By area, Westside 7,150, Mesa Verde 7,125, Central 6,528, Eastside 6,481 and South Coast Metro 6,120.

What are the five Costa Mesa MLS areas?
C1 Mesa Verde, C2 Southwest or Westside Costa Mesa, C3 South Coast Metro, C4 Central Costa Mesa and C5 East Costa Mesa. Each behaves differently enough that using a citywide figure to value a specific house will mislead you.

Which Costa Mesa neighborhood sells fastest?
Mesa del Mar, at a median of 7 days on market, is the fastest tract measured anywhere in these guides. Freedom Homes at 9 days and Mesa Bluffs at 7 are close behind.

What is the most expensive sale recorded in Costa Mesa recently?
361 22nd Street on the Eastside at $6,470,000, a 2007 build.

How much inventory is there right now?
As of November 1, 2026, one hundred and twenty active listings from $415,000 to $4,695,000, five more coming soon, plus nineteen under contract and seventeen pending. Against 1,143 sales in two years that is about two and a half months of supply.

How does Costa Mesa compare to Newport Beach?
Very differently on both price and behavior. Costa Mesa medians $1,485,000 and closes at ask in 13 days. Newport Beach communities measured for these guides median between $1,465,000 and $20,000,000 and mostly close below ask, with several taking a median of two to seven months.

Which school district serves Costa Mesa?
Newport Mesa Unified School District. Attendance boundaries are set by the district and do change, so confirm your specific address with the district rather than relying on any listing or portal.

Where does the data on this page come from?
The California Regional MLS, covering every listing recorded across all five Costa Mesa MLS areas over the last two years, using recorded closed sales rather than list prices or automated estimates, with area assignment, dues, dues frequency and list versus close prices taken from the structured fields on individual listings. Figures are current as of the last update to this page and should be verified for any specific property.