Orchard Hills Is Irvine's Priciest Neighborhood, and Its Calmest Market
Orchard Hills homes closed at a median of $2,755,000 over the last twelve months, 89% above the $1,460,000 median for the rest of Irvine, across 112 sales. Despite that price gap, only 11.6% of Orchard Hills closings landed at or above their original asking price, compared with 23.0% citywide. New construction has nearly disappeared from the neighborhood, down to 1.8% of closings, so this is now a resale market, and one where buyers appear to have more room than the price tag suggests.
The gap between price and pressure
Orchard Hills is, by a wide margin, the most expensive place to buy a home in Irvine. Over the last twelve months, 112 homes closed there at a median of $2,755,000, against $1,460,000 for the rest of the city, a difference of 89%. Price per square foot tells the same story: $970 in Orchard Hills versus $784 elsewhere.
What doesn't follow the price is the competition. Only 11.6% of Orchard Hills closings sold at or above their original asking price, compared with 23.0% across the rest of Irvine. Homes there also sold slightly less often within the first two weeks (25.9% versus 34.5% citywide). A neighborhood can command the highest prices in the city and still be its calmest market, and right now, that is exactly what Orchard Hills is.
The builder has mostly left the building
For most of its build-out, Orchard Hills was a new-construction story: buyers competed for lots and floor plans directly from the Irvine Company. That phase is largely over. New construction accounted for just 1.8% of Orchard Hills closings in the last twelve months, down from a market that was builder-driven only a few years ago. Nearly every sale now is a resale, competing against other resales rather than a builder's price sheet, which is a different kind of market with a different kind of negotiation.
Even the newest phases show it. Homes built in 2020 or later carry the highest prices in the neighborhood, a median of $2,950,000 and $1,032 per square foot, but sold above asking only 12.0% of the time, barely different from the 11.3% rate for homes built between 2013 and 2019. Age of construction moves the price. It does not move the leverage.
Cash buys in, but it doesn't buy urgency
Half of all Orchard Hills closings in the last year, 50.0%, were all cash, compared with 36.3% for the rest of Irvine. That share climbs with price rather than falls: 44.9% cash between $2 million and $3 million, and 53.1% above $3 million.
| Orchard Hills, last 12 months | Under $2M | $2M – $3M | $3M+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 14 | 49 | 49 |
| Cash share | 57.1% | 44.9% | 53.1% |
| Closed at/above list | 21.4% | 8.2% | 12.2% |
Cash tells you who is buying in Orchard Hills. It does not tell you how hard they are competing to do it.
The over-ask rate does not track cash share at all. The band with the most cash buyers, $3 million and up, sold above asking less often than the entry tier under $2 million. Money is not the constraint in this neighborhood. Supply and pricing discipline are.
2025 was the first down year
Orchard Hills prices have climbed every year of its build-out, with one exception. The median closing price by calendar year:
| Year | Median price | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $1,315,000 | 132 |
| 2020 | $1,467,076 | 118 |
| 2021 | $1,680,000 | 187 |
| 2022 | $2,143,000 | 122 |
| 2023 | $2,521,854 | 132 |
| 2024 | $3,035,000 | 140 |
| 2025 | $2,700,000 | 109 |
| 2026 (through August) | $2,950,000 | 81 |
2025 broke the streak, down from $3,035,000 to $2,700,000, before 2026 has tracked back up toward the 2024 level. Read alongside the low over-ask rate, this looks less like a neighborhood cooling off and more like one that found its ceiling in 2024 and has spent the time since settling into it.
It's not just Orchard Hills
Tustin Ranch tells a smaller version of the same story. Homes there closed at a median of $1,250,000 against $1,150,000 for the rest of Tustin, but sold within two weeks less often (44.3% versus 50.8%) and above asking less often (39.1% versus 46.4%). Paying the Tustin Ranch premium has not meant buying faster or against more competition.
What this means depending on which side you're on
If you are selling in Orchard Hills, price to the comparable resales in your phase, not to what the neighborhood's reputation suggests the market should bear. If you are buying, the price tag is not a signal that you have to move fast or waive contingencies; the data says the opposite is closer to true. Either way, the numbers for your specific phase and price band matter more than the neighborhood average, and we can pull those before you write an offer or set a list price.
Send us your address or your must-haves and we will walk you through what comparable homes actually did. Call (949) 241-2596.
Contact UsMarket figures are derived from closed sales in Irvine over the twelve months ending August 31, 2026, unless a different period is stated, and are current as of September 17, 2026. Sample sizes are stated alongside each figure.