Across the country, new homes now sell for less per square foot than existing ones: a median $205 against $212, Zillow reported on September 29, 2026. New construction on the Orange County coast is not following that script.
I went through nearly 1,600 MLS closings at $3 million and up from Newport Beach to Capistrano Beach over the past two years. Comparing each neighborhood’s new homes with its resales, new construction closed about 19% higher per square foot in the typical neighborhood, and it came out ahead in 28 of 36 neighborhoods.
So what are buyers paying for? My answer is time.
How Much More Does New Construction Sell For on the Coast?
New homes are rare here. Of the 859 coastal closings at $3 million and up over the last 12 months that I could classify as new or resale, 55 were new construction, or 6.4%. The raw medians, $2,273 per square foot for new against $1,793 for resale, overstate the gap because new homes are concentrated in Corona del Mar, where resales also sell well above the coastal median per foot. Comparing within the same neighborhood is fairer: in the typical neighborhood, new construction closed about 19% higher per square foot over two years. Most neighborhoods had only one to three new sales, and on the last 12 months alone the same comparison shows about 13%.
| Coastal Orange County, MLS closings at $3M and up | New construction | Resale |
|---|---|---|
| Closings classified as new or resale, last 12 months | 55 (6.4%) | 804 (93.6%) |
| Median sale price, last 12 months | $6.75M | $4.90M |
| Median price per sq ft, last 12 months | $2,273 | $1,793 |
| Price per sq ft against resales in the same neighborhood, 24 months (36 neighborhoods) | Median 19% higher | Baseline |
| Median price per sq ft, sales of $10M and up, 24 months | $2,357 (25 sales) | $2,801 (186 sales) |
Source: Stavros Group analysis of MLS closed sales (98% CRMLS) at $3,000,000 and up in ZIP codes 92625, 92657, 92660, 92661, 92662, 92663, 92651, 92629 and 92624, sold September 30, 2024 to September 29, 2026 (Redfin exports of MLS data, which can omit some listings, pulled September 29, 2026). Last 12 months means September 30, 2025 to September 29, 2026. New construction means built in the year of sale or the year before; resale means built three or more years before the sale. Probable land or teardown sales, a few hand-checked exceptions, homes exactly two years old and records without a usable build year are excluded from both groups. The same-neighborhood figure is the median of the neighborhood ratios. Corona del Mar village figures come from CRMLS listing histories and public records for homes built 2015 or later on the flower streets and adjacent village blocks, at all prices, where new means the first sale of a home built 2023 or later.
Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of September 29, 2026 and/or other sources. All data, including all measurements and calculations of area, is obtained from various sources and has not been, and will not be, verified by broker or MLS. All information should be independently reviewed and verified for accuracy. Properties may or may not be listed by the office/agent presenting the information.
Why Do Buyers Pay More for New Here?
Scarcity is part of it. The Census Bureau estimates the median home in Corona del Mar’s 92625 ZIP code was built in 1975, and only about 2% of its homes were built in 2020 or later.
The other part is what buyers want to avoid. In the National Association of Realtors’ 2025 national survey of home buyers, the top reason buyers gave for choosing a new home, cited by 43%, was avoiding renovations and plumbing or electrical problems.
How Long Does It Take to Build New in Newport Beach?
Buy a teardown and you start with design and, on some lots, planning approvals such as a coastal development permit. Then comes the building permit. Across the 219 active new-home permits with dates in City of Newport Beach records, the median time from application to issuance was 190 days, and one in four took 308 days or longer. Nothing has been built yet.
Then construction. Nationally, contractor-built homes completed in 2025 took 11.7 months on average from permit to completion, according to the National Association of Home Builders. On the coast, the whole process, design included, can run for years. The Orange County Business Journal reported that the developer of the new Ocean Boulevard home that closed at $48.5 million on July 2, 2026 bought the older house on the lot in July 2021, tore it down and “spent almost five years designing and building.” A broker whose firm represented both sides told the paper it was likely the highest residential sale in Corona del Mar. In March 2025, the same paper had reported a $26 million bayfront house as the all-time high.
Building new here is measured in years, with carrying costs and construction risk the whole way. A finished new home lets you skip all of it. That, more than any finish, is what the premium buys.
Where Does the Premium Show Up, and Where Does It Fade?
It shows up in the price per foot, not in bidding wars. The one place I have asking-price data for is the Corona del Mar village, for homes built 2015 or later. There, over the past year, new homes and resales closed at almost the same median share of first asking price, 95.3% and 95.4% (25 and 28 marketed sales), and none of those 53 sales closed above its final asking price.
It fades at the top. Above $10 million, resales closed at a higher median price per foot than new homes over two years, $2,801 against $2,357 (186 and 25 sales). The resales in that tier include many oceanfront and bayfront homes, and the new homes in it are larger, a median 5,978 square feet against 5,096. And some markets have almost nothing to measure: Newport Coast had one new-construction closing at $3 million and up in two years, and Capistrano Beach had none.
Corona del Mar is where new construction is most concentrated. New homes made up 16.3% of its new and resale closings at $3 million and up over the past year (23 of 141), the highest share of any ZIP code from Newport Beach to Capistrano Beach, against 6.5% in Newport Beach’s 92660 to 92663 ZIP codes. City records put 41 of Newport Beach’s 220 active new-home permits in the Corona del Mar Village, the most of any neighborhood, and 32 of them were issued since October 1, 2025. My Corona del Mar neighborhood guide has more on the area.
Where Does 407 Heliotrope Fit In?
My own listing in the village shows that trade from the buyer’s side. 407 Heliotrope Avenue is a new-construction residence in Corona del Mar, Coming Soon at $7,595,000. It is a proposed condominium of approximately 2,741 square feet across three levels, with three bedrooms and three-and-one-half baths. A buyer here steps in near the finish line, with completion anticipated December 2026, rather than starting years of design, permitting and construction.
Set on a full 40-foot-wide lot, the residence takes full advantage of its uncommon width, creating broader living spaces, greater volume and a sense of openness rarely found in an attached residence. Nearly 1,200 square feet of outdoor living is incorporated throughout the home, highlighted by a fully built-out rooftop deck of more than 650 square feet.
Private tours by appointment once the site is safe to walk; register now for first access. The artist’s renderings and floor plan are on the 407 Heliotrope Avenue property page.
Front view at dusk digitally relit from the artist’s rendering; the original is shown at stavrosgroup.com/property/407-heliotrope-ave/.
Artist’s renderings of the residence under construction, subject to change; not photographs of completed construction. Finishes as specified; furnishings and landscaping shown for illustration. Proposed condominium; sale subject to approval and recording of the parcel map and condominium plan. Square footage approximate; buyer to verify. Coming Soon on CRMLS, Active 10/22/26.
What Should Buyers and Sellers Take From This?
If You Are Buying
- Compare price per foot within the same neighborhood, not coast-wide medians.
- Put a number on your time before choosing a teardown over a finished home.
- At the top of the market, I would buy the location first.
- Read the labels: renderings are illustrations, finishes may be specified rather than installed, and a proposed condominium depends on its parcel map and condominium plan being approved and recorded.
- Have your own agent, even when a builder has a sales team. Here is why that matters on a new-construction purchase.
If You Are Selling an Older Home
- Price it right on day one. In the Corona del Mar village, even newer homes did not sell through bidding wars over the past year.
- Know where you sit on the age curve. Over two years, coastal resales built 2015 to 2023 closed at a median $2,089 per square foot, homes built 2000 to 2014 at $1,726, homes built 1980 to 1999 at $1,466 and homes built before 1980 at $1,826. That pattern is consistent with older, smaller homes on prime lots being priced largely as land.
- Answer the new-home objection early. Inspections, disclosures and system updates done before you list speak directly to the reason buyers give most for choosing new.
- Know what is being built on your street, and price with it in mind. For more, read what actually sells homes near Corona del Mar’s beaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do new homes sell for more than resale homes in coastal Orange County?
Among sales of $3 million and up, yes: compared with resales in the same MLS neighborhood, new construction closed a median 19% higher per square foot over the two years to September 29, 2026, and came out ahead in 28 of 36 coastal neighborhoods.
Do new homes sell faster than resales in Corona del Mar?
Not in my data. In the Corona del Mar village over the past year, new homes took a median 106 days from first listing to close, against 94 days for resales of homes built since 2015 (25 and 28 sales), too small a gap on samples this size to call a difference.
How long does it take to get a building permit for a new home in Newport Beach?
About six months: the median was 190 days from application to issuance across the 219 active new-home permits with dates in City records as of October 2, 2026, before any construction begins.
Where is new construction most concentrated on the Orange County coast?
Corona del Mar. From Newport Beach to Capistrano Beach, its ZIP code had the highest share of new homes among closings at $3 million and up over the past year, 16.3% of new and resale sales, and its village holds 41 of the City of Newport Beach’s 220 active new-home permits, the most of any Newport Beach neighborhood.
Is new construction worth more at the very top of the market?
Not by price per foot. Among sales of $10 million and up over the past two years, resales closed at a median $2,801 per square foot against $2,357 for new homes (186 and 25 sales). The top resale tier includes many oceanfront and bayfront homes, and the new homes in it are larger.
Can a new home be listed before it is finished?
Yes: CRMLS lets a listing that requires a new-construction building permit stay in Coming Soon status until the certificate of occupancy is issued. 407 Heliotrope Avenue, my listing in Corona del Mar, is a proposed condominium residence under construction, Coming Soon at $7,595,000 with completion anticipated December 2026.
Thinking About New Construction on the Coast?
If you are weighing a finished new home against a teardown, or pricing an older home with new construction going up nearby, I am glad to walk through the numbers for your street. I bring over 23 years of experience and over $750 million in career sales to that conversation.
Andy Stavros, Broker Associate, Douglas Elliman, DRE 01408840, 949-290-0139, andy.stavros@elliman.com
Sources
- Zillow, “New homes now cost less than existing ones in one-third of major markets,” September 29, 2026: zillow.mediaroom.com
- Stavros Group analysis of MLS closed sales (98% CRMLS) at $3,000,000 and up in ZIP codes 92625, 92657, 92660, 92661, 92662, 92663, 92651, 92629 and 92624, sold September 30, 2024 to September 29, 2026, from Redfin exports of MLS data pulled September 29, 2026.
- Stavros Group analysis of CRMLS listing histories and public records for Corona del Mar village homes built 2015 or later, sold September 30, 2025 to September 29, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034 and B25035, ZIP code 92625, via Census Reporter: censusreporter.org
- National Association of Realtors, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (national survey, all price points), Exhibit 2-2, p. 27; overview: nar.realtor
- City of Newport Beach, Coastal Development Permit application handout (rev. October 3, 2023): newportbeachca.gov
- City of Newport Beach, active building permits (public GIS layer and permit portal), retrieved October 2, 2026, tabulated by Stavros Group: nbgis.newportbeachca.gov and css.newportbeachca.gov
- National Association of Home Builders, Eye on Housing, “Single-Family Home Construction Time Declines in 2025,” September 8, 2026: eyeonhousing.org
- Orange County Business Journal, “Corona del Mar Spec Home Sells for Record $48.5M,” July 27, 2026: ocbj.com
- Orange County Business Journal, “Coastal House Sets Corona del Mar Record at $26M,” March 31, 2025: ocbj.com
- CRMLS Knowledge Base, “Selling New Construction” (Rule 7.18.2): kb.crmls.org
- 407 Heliotrope Avenue property page: stavrosgroup.com/property/407-heliotrope-ave/
