Northwood, Irvine

Northwood, Irvine

ZIP 92620 · Built from the 1970s on

An older village built on former orange groves. Its homes went up in four eras, and prices and tax bills differ a lot between them. This page breaks them out: actual sale prices, which homes have no HOA and no Mello-Roos, the Northwood High schools, and the numbers to watch if you are selling here in 2026.

• 12-month median $1.625M
• Per sq ft $796
• Single-family median $1.8M

By Irene Zhang and Ricky Zhang · Keller Williams Realty Irvine · Updated 2026-09-29 · Sales data through 2026-08-31

Northwood at a glance

Northwood is an older village in the northern part of Irvine, roughly between I-5, Culver Dr, Portola Pkwy and Jeffrey Rd, in ZIP 92620. The Irvine Company puts its size at 1,889 acres. The land was once the Irvine Ranch's Valencia orange groves. Homes went up in several waves: the bulk in the late 1970s; a batch of smaller single-family homes and condos along Culver and next to I-5 in the mid-1980s; Northwood Pointe north of Irvine Blvd in the late 1990s; and the gated Northwood Estates at the south end in the mid-2000s.

According to CRMLS data, Northwood had 170 resales in the last 12 months (2025-09-01 to 2026-08-31), with a median sale price of $1,625,000 and a median price per sq ft of $796. The single-family median was $1,800,000 and the condo median $864,500. Price per sq ft was −1.8% year over year, versus −4.9% for Irvine overall, so Northwood fell less than most. Nearly all of the village is in the Irvine Unified School District, and the high school is Northwood High. Most homes from the 1970s and 1980s have no Mello-Roos, and many single-family neighborhoods have no HOA at all. That is the biggest difference between Northwood and the newer villages in North Irvine.

• $1.625M — Median sale price, last 12 months (170 sales, −3.4% YoY)
• $796 — Median price per sq ft (−1.8% YoY; Irvine overall −4.9%)
• 16 days — Median days on market (22 days a year earlier)
• 879 — Resales since 2022 (67% single-family, about 190 a year)
• 52% — Of homes sold were built before 1982 (40% were built in 1977–79 alone)
• About 29,000 — Population of the four core Census tracts (ACS 2020–2024; about 72% of households own their homes)
• 48% — All-cash buyers, last 12 months (53% a year earlier)
• 10/10 — Northwood High (GreatSchools rating; Niche A+)

Where Northwood is: from orange groves to an established village

Northwood is on the north side of Irvine. I-5 is its southern edge, Culver Dr separates it from Northpark on the west, Jeffrey Rd is the eastern edge, and Portola Pkwy is the northern edge. Irvine Blvd and Trabuco Rd cut diagonally through the middle and roughly divide the village into three parts: Northwood Pointe north of Irvine Blvd, the 1970s original Northwood in the middle, and the 1980s condos and Northwood Estates south of Trabuco near I-5.

Northwood pros and things to consider

Pros

• Low carrying costs: most 1970s–80s homes have no Mello-Roos, and some single-family neighborhoods have no HOA
• Complete school path: four elementary schools plus Sierra Vista, and Northwood High is rated 10/10 on GreatSchools
• Mature trees and established lots, plenty of parks and trails, with the Hicks Canyon and Jeffrey trails right nearby
• Stable prices: price per sq ft over the last 12 months is only about 2% below the prior 12 months, better than Irvine overall and the newer villages
• Lots of choice: from small condos around $400K and Phase 2 single-family homes just over $1M to large Northwood Pointe homes in the $4M range
• Central location: close to both I-5 and SR-261, with easy access to the Tustin and Irvine train stations

Things to consider

• Older homes: most are over 40 years old, and the roof, plumbing, electrical and windows may all need replacing. Get a thorough inspection before you buy
• Big price gap between unrenovated and renovated homes; check the condition before judging the price
• South of Trabuco, near I-5, some homes get freeway noise
• Northwood Estates still pays Mello-Roos under CFD 04-1, and condo HOA dues there are not low
• Many cash buyers and renovation investors, who push the price down based on condition; homes in original condition especially need accurate pricing
• Northwood Elementary scores below the district average, and elementary assignments go by street, so verify by address

Selling in Northwood: 2026 market signals

If you own in Northwood, these are the numbers to watch:

• Less bidding: the share of homes selling above list price fell from 61% in 2022 and 52% in 2024 to 18% in the last 12 months.
• More price reductions: 35% of homes sold in 2025 had a price cut, and 26% so far in 2026, versus only 13% in 2023.
• The first two weeks set the price: over the last 24 months, homes that sold within 14 days of listing got a median 100.0% of original list price; those on the market more than 30 days got only 93.6%. On a $1.8M single-family home, that is a difference of a little over $100,000.
• Lots of cash buyers: 48% of purchases in the last 12 months were all cash, many of them by renovation investors who move fast but push the price down based on condition.
• Condition drives the price gap: the 24 homes resold within a year sold the second time for a median 22% more. Which small updates to make before selling, and which aren't worth it, makes a big difference.

Long-time owners: work out the taxes before you sell

Many Northwood owners bought 10 or 20 years ago and have sizable gains on paper. Two rules are worth understanding first. Under IRS rules, if you have lived in the home as your primary residence for two years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain when you sell if single, or $500,000 if married filing jointly. California's Prop 19, in effect since 2021, lets homeowners 55 and older carry their existing property tax base to a new primary residence anywhere in California bought within two years before or after the sale, up to three times in a lifetime; if the new home costs more, the difference is added to the tax base. Confirm how these apply to you with a tax professional. We can put your sale timing, your next-home budget and these rules together and help you work out the order.

Why Irvine homeowners choose Irene and Ricky

Irene and Ricky Zhang are a husband-and-wife team who spent 8 years in sales and marketing at Procter and Gamble before starting their real estate careers, and have been selling homes in Irvine since January 2015. The team passed $100 million in sales volume in 2024, earned the Orange County REALTORS® (OCAR) Diamond award in 2024 and 2025, and in the 2026 RealTrends Verified rankings (based on 2025 production) was the #1 small team in Irvine by both volume and sides.

• Pricing: priced from the latest sales of the same neighborhood, floor plan and condition in Northwood, with the competing listings on the market taken into account
• Presentation: professional staging, high-end photography, drone video and 3D virtual tours
• Marketing: MLS, major real estate portals, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, reaching local and international buyers in English and Chinese
• Negotiation: hands-on from showings and buyer screening through final negotiation, in English, Mandarin and Cantonese
• Team: a marketing director, listing manager, transaction manager and coordinator; more than 300 homeowners served