State of Irvine Real Estate 2026

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
I was going to post a new thread but figured TI/IHB was founded on Irvine Real Estate so they are tied together.

I'm sure everyone notices that the traffic/posts on TI are less about Irvine homes than other stuff.

Why is that? Is there no one interested in buying in Irvine or is there no longer discussion needed on where to buy and what to buy? Are the current buyers who would be member/posters the kind of people who don't participate in online forums?

There are still some long time members but the influx of new members genuinely interested in Irvine homes is very small now.

Is the State of Talk Irvine 2026 basically not about Irvine anymore?

I think I am approaching almost 20 years being part of TI/IHB... not even sure who else has been around that long.

All I know is that anyone who bought when I joined despite that being near the peak of the last bubble... they would be sitting on quite a bit of equity right now.

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This type of forum is a relic of another era. Reddit is probably the closest thing that is still popular, but many people have defaulted to FB, X, and IG when they want other people's opinions.

The other problem is that if you search for "Irvine Real Estate" this forum isn't very high in the search results. Google tends to prioritize links to commercial websites, then social media, then Youtube videos, and only then links to non-commercial "old Internet" style websites.

When I search for "Irvine Real Estate", TI is the first result in the second page of results, which means most people will never see it. The move by Google to summarize search results via AI means even fewer people will bother to look at the search results at all, and only a tiny percentage will click through to see the second page of results.
 
My thoughts as a millennial who has been part of online communities on discord, etc- I have seen some online communities with a small group of “power users” who would contribute the most. Over time when those power users become busy with offline/real life stuff, even casual users who would sporadically check in lose interest and stop visiting the forums because after all the entertainment (drama, gossip, humor, etc) was largely due to the small group of power users. Additionally these days if you want to discuss Irvine real estate, there is the Irvine subreddit, where you can discuss real estate along with whatever else you want to discuss.

Another thought specifically on Irvine real estate, I think it’s gets boring after a while. Ten years ago, it was an extremely desirable place, today it is extremely desirable and odds are ten years from now, it will be the same. I love reading through the old threads. Example- few weeks ago I came across this listing in Woodbridge- 52 shadowbrook. I then looked at old threads on the Branches community and literally everyone noted how at $1MM these homes were so expensive. Today- 10 years later, it is definitely going to be sold for atleast $2MM if not more. Might be expensive today too given the small lot and it’s outside the loop but would love to come back here 10 years from now when a similar home is for sale- it would probably be considered expensive then as well- so as you can see, it candidly gets boring. It is what it is. Irvine is extremely desirable, real estate here is expensive and it’s looking like it might continue to be the case. What’s there to discuss unless we see a collapse like 08 then it might be interesting. The 08-10 threads had a lot of discussion on foreclosures, short sales, etc but today there is nothing really interesting like that to discuss. Also, as someone who looks at old threads a lot, it’s literally the same thoughts/discussion- retail not being developed in Portola springs, concerns over new developments, population growth and impact on traffic, etc. those were discussed 10 years ago and they continue to be discussed today. It’s literally the same thing and it goes back to my point that it’s candidly boring. I’m on here since I am looking to buy a home and curious on people’s thoughts on different neighborhoods- I just mainly look at old threads and don’t even ask for current opinions because as I mentioned earlier what was said 10 years ago seems to be case even now and might be the case 10 years from now.
 
ravi said:
My thoughts as a millennial who has been part of online communities on discord, etc- I have seen some online communities with a small group of “power users” who would contribute the most. Over time when those power users become busy with offline/real life stuff, even casual users who would sporadically check in lose interest and stop visiting the forums because after all the entertainment (drama, gossip, humor, etc) was largely due to the small group of power users. Additionally these days if you want to discuss Irvine real estate, there is the Irvine subreddit, where you can discuss real estate along with whatever else you want to discuss.

Another thought specifically on Irvine real estate, I think it’s gets boring after a while. Ten years ago, it was an extremely desirable place, today it is extremely desirable and odds are ten years from now, it will be the same. I love reading through the old threads. Example- few weeks ago I came across this listing in Woodbridge- 52 shadowbrook. I then looked at old threads on the Branches community and literally everyone noted how at $1MM these homes were so expensive. Today- 10 years later, it is definitely going to be sold for atleast $2MM if not more. Might be expensive today too given the small lot and it’s outside the loop but would love to come back here 10 years from now when a similar home is for sale- it would probably be considered expensive then as well- so as you can see, it candidly gets boring. It is what it is. Irvine is extremely desirable, real estate here is expensive and it’s looking like it might continue to be the case. What’s there to discuss unless we see a collapse like 08 then it might be interesting. The 08-10 threads had a lot of discussion on foreclosures, short sales, etc but today there is nothing really interesting like that to discuss. Also, as someone who looks at old threads a lot, it’s literally the same thoughts/discussion- retail not being developed in Portola springs, concerns over new developments, population growth and impact on traffic, etc. those were discussed 10 years ago and they continue to be discussed today. It’s literally the same thing and it goes back to my point that it’s candidly boring. I’m on here since I am looking to buy a home and curious on people’s thoughts on different neighborhoods- I just mainly look at old threads and don’t even ask for current opinions because as I mentioned earlier what was said 10 years ago seems to be case even now and might be the case 10 years from now.
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For many of us this is a community that we enjoy participating in. I have a similar community on a USC blog. I’m an “old style internet “ guy - Reddit seems so sterile
 
OCtoSV said:
For many of us this is a community that we enjoy participating in. I have a similar community on a USC blog. I’m an “old style internet “ guy - Reddit seems so sterile
Click to expand...
Everyone has their favorites- Reddit, discord, groups on FB, etc. my comment was mostly about how there were power users on here looking at the old threads and over time seeing the activity and traffic go down it’s not unusual, I have seen the same thing happen with other communities. It’s par for the course.
 
This topic prompted me to check the status of the remaining OG real estate blogs that formed around the time of the 2006 bubble.

Calculated Risk - Decided to end the blog on Jan 12, 2026 and is only doing newsletter updates now (which I believe are by paid subscription).

Dr. Housing Bubble - Hasn't formally shut down, but his last post was on May 5, 2024. I guess it's hard being a permabear after a dozen years of rapidly rising prices.

Piggington - Started in 2004 and still posts charts about once per month, getting an average of only 3-4 comments per post.

Any other blogs I overlooked?
 
Another reason is because there is less real estate activity on TI that also affects SEO.

Maybe people have moved on to /Irvine in Reddit or NextDoor has sucked up all the rec questions.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Another reason is because there is less real estate activity on TI that also affects SEO.

Maybe people have moved on to /Irvine in Reddit or NextDoor has sucked up all the rec questions.
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If TI isn’t having their pages indexed by Google that will have an impact on where TI comes up in Google search results
 
It seems the general consensus is Irvine is overpriced (unsure about comparisons to Silicon Valley).

Seems like Pandora Box to me because I don’t think it will ever be affordable. If we had to buy today, it would have to be a much smaller home or not Irvine.

Looks like those peak late 2000s prices are bargains. Even 2012-2015 when certain people were saying not to buy.

And most who got sub-3% mortgages are holding or renting those homes out. If you had a sub-3% home in Irvine would you sell it?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
It seems the general consensus is Irvine is overpriced (unsure about comparisons to Silicon Valley).

Seems like Pandora Box to me because I don’t think it will ever be affordable. If we had to buy today, it would have to be a much smaller home or not Irvine.

Looks like those peak late 2000s prices are bargains. Even 2012-2015 when certain people were saying not to buy.

And most who got sub-3% mortgages are holding or renting those homes out. If you had a sub-3% home in Irvine would you sell it?
Click to expand...
Explains all the people renting homes out by the room, basically boarding houses.
 
I missed the post from @ravi but it’s pretty much what I was thinking in my recent comments.

I asked AI and TI only comes up if you specifically ask for Irvine centric forums.

There is probably also a wealth of more information (including AI) that minimizes the need for TI.

Maybe we should talk about Knight of the Seven Kingoms or Pluribus.
 
Well the people that bought in early 2022 like Care Bears and USC-"Irvine beats inflation"-TrojanCPA are hating life.

Irvine median sales price is lower than the peak four years ago. Orange County as a whole is up 11% thankfully!

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irvinehomeowner said:
It seems the general consensus is Irvine is overpriced (unsure about comparisons to Silicon Valley).

Seems like Pandora Box to me because I don’t think it will ever be affordable. If we had to buy today, it would have to be a much smaller home or not Irvine.

Looks like those peak late 2000s prices are bargains. Even 2012-2015 when certain people were saying not to buy.

And most who got sub-3% mortgages are holding or renting those homes out. If you had a sub-3% home in Irvine would you sell it?
Click to expand...
Rent it
 
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