Woods Cove is an oceanfront neighborhood of Laguna Beach, California. The 17 Woods Cove, Laguna Beach homes for sale in this page’s listings feed on November 6, 2026 asked a median $5,395,000 and $1,878 per square foot, while the 6 Woods Cove houses that closed between August 6 and November 5, 2026 sold between $2,525,000 and $5,995,000, per CRMLS, and Laguna Village, the MLS area around them, closed 41 sales at a median $3,435,000. Woods Cove sits south of downtown around the cove and public beach of the same name, where 1920s cottages, bluff-top houses on Ocean Way and 1960s condominiums on Coast Highway share the same few blocks.
The gap between what is asked and what closes is the number a Woods Cove buyer works with, and the tier of house sets most of it: oceanfront, bluff-back or Coast Highway condominium.
This page covers the housing stock, beach access, the marine reserve, bluff and coastal rules, short-term rentals, schools, fire risk, what Woods Cove homes for sale cost against what sold, how fast they clear, the Laguna Beach comparison and how to buy in Woods Cove without overpaying.
Browse all Orange County real estate.
Woods Cove, Laguna Beach, sits on the coast south of downtown, around Woods Cove Beach at the foot of Diamond Street, inside the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve shoreline (see the fishing question below).
The boundary this page uses for Woods Cove runs from Bluebird Canyon Drive to Coast Highway and from the shore to Alta Vista Way, drawn from the neighborhood’s own streets because no official Woods Cove boundary is published:
The Laguna Beach Independent places the neighborhood’s edge at Bluebird Canyon Drive in its 2012 feature on the cottages of Woods Cove. Woods Cove sits under the Laguna Beach hub on this site.
Woods Cove, Laguna Beach housing stock comes in three tiers inside a roughly 170-home neighborhood: oceanfront houses on Ocean Way, bluff-back and hillside houses on Crestview Drive, Catalina Street, Ruby Place, Arch Street and Glenneyre Street, and 1960s condominiums on South Coast Highway. The “roughly 170-home community in the southern part of the coastal city” count comes from a 2024 Orange County Business Journal report. The 6 houses that closed between August 6 and November 5, 2026 were built between 1926 and 2025, with 4 of the 6 built before 1960, per CRMLS; 5 of the 6 were marketed on their views and 5 of the 6 closed for cash. With six sales, each median falls between the middle two values: built 1939 and 1951, 2,107 and 2,461 square feet, and lots of 5,100 and 7,500 square feet.
The three tiers, from this page’s feed on November 6, 2026 (asking prices by tier are in the asking-price section below):
Most of the houses began as pared-down Craftsman summer homes when the area was the separate settlement of Arch Beach, with a pier off Diamond Street, per the Laguna Beach Garden Club’s 2015 tour notes.
Woods Cove, Laguna Beach is reached from South Coast Highway, and the beach below it by public stairways at Diamond Street and Pearl Street. The beach “has easy beach access via stairs and is a popular spot for swimmers, snorkelers, and SCUBA divers,” per the Laguna Ocean Foundation, which rates the north-end tide pools “Advanced” and lists a tide of 2 feet or lower for tide pooling.
Five things to know before you go to Woods Cove:
No, Woods Cove is not a private beach. Woods Cove Beach is a public beach on the Laguna Beach shoreline, reached by the stairways at Diamond Street and Pearl Street, and the state marine reserve rules apply to everyone on it. The houses above the sand are private; the sand and the stairways are not.
No, you cannot fish or collect shells at Woods Cove. Woods Cove Beach sits inside the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve, where “it is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource,” per the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The reserve runs from Abalone Point south to Goff Island, 6.72 square miles with 4.4 miles of shoreline, and the entire Laguna Beach coastline became state marine protected areas in 2012. The rule covers shells and rocks as well as fish.
Woods Cove sits inside the area covered by Laguna Beach’s certified Local Coastal Program, certified by the California Coastal Commission on January 13, 1993, so the city issues coastal development permits here and the Commission hears appeals between the first public road and the sea, per the Commission’s December 2020 staff report. The report summarizes the citywide Land Use Element actions for bluff-edge lots, which bind the oceanfront parcels on Ocean Way, not the inland streets above Glenneyre.
A bluff-edge lot in Woods Cove carries five rules under the certified Local Coastal Program, per the Coastal Commission’s December 2020 summary:
No, new short-term rentals are not allowed in Woods Cove, Laguna Beach, or in any other residential zone of the city, so an Airbnb listing in a Woods Cove house would need a permit the city no longer issues for residential neighborhoods. In November 2020 the City Council accepted California Coastal Commission modifications “banning new short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods and capping them at 300 units citywide,” per the Laguna Beach Independent. A buyer counting on rental income should verify the specific property’s permit status with the city before writing an offer.
Laguna Beach Unified School District serves Woods Cove, Laguna Beach, and any district resident may apply to any of its schools regardless of address. The district’s transfer page allows enrollment “in any district school, regardless of the location of their residence within the district,” per LBUSD, and its enrollment page requires a valid address inside the district boundaries with residency verification. The district runs four schools: El Morro Elementary, Top of the World Elementary, Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School. This page assigns no default elementary school to Woods Cove.
It depends on the address. Woods Cove, Laguna Beach has no single fire zone answer: the city’s 2025 fire hazard severity zone map settles it parcel by parcel, so check the parcel there before you write. Laguna Beach carries the fire history: the 1993 Laguna fire “engulfed almost 16,000 acres, destroyed or severely damaged more than 400 residences and generated $528 million in damage,” per the Laguna Beach Independent, citing the Orange County Fire Authority report, after embers from Laguna Canyon jumped a firebreak into Laguna Beach and Emerald Bay. This page asserts no fire zone class for any Woods Cove street.
Two checks settle fire risk for a Woods Cove address:
Woods Cove homes cost between $2,525,000 and $5,995,000 on the last 90 days of closings: 6 single-family houses inside the boundary this page uses closed between August 6 and November 5, 2026, per CRMLS, from a 1929 cottage on Agate Street at $2,525,000 to a 2025 new build on Gainsborough Drive at $5,995,000. Six sales are too few for a pocket median, so the dollar benchmark is Laguna Village, the CRMLS area that holds all 6: 41 closings at a median $3,435,000 and $1,516 per square foot over the same window. Comparison figures leave out off-market sales entered in CRMLS for comps only; none of the 6 Woods Cove sales was one.
Six Woods Cove homes sold in the last 90 days, all single-family and all inside the boundary this page uses, per CRMLS:
| Woods Cove closing | built | sq ft | closed | final list | original list | days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 840 Gainsborough Drive | 2025 | 3,573 | $5,995,000 | $5,995,000 | $6,995,000 | 67 |
| 376 Diamond Street | 1939 | 1,650 | $4,237,500 | $4,325,000 | $4,325,000 | 37 |
| 2100 Crestview Drive | 2012 | 2,926 | $3,700,000 | $3,995,000 | $3,995,000 | 16 |
| 340 Moss Street | 1951 | 2,107 | $3,275,000 | $3,395,000 | $3,725,000 | 73 |
| 2147 Crestview Drive | 1926 | 2,461 | $3,250,000 | $3,250,000 | $4,250,000 | 38 |
| 455 Agate Street | 1929 | 1,882 | $2,525,000 | $2,700,000 | $3,495,000 | 49 |
CRMLS closings, August 6 to November 5, 2026, single-family, inside the boundary above. Where they landed against Laguna Village:
Asking prices in Woods Cove sit well above what closed: the 17 Woods Cove homes for sale in this page’s listings feed on November 6, 2026 asked a median $5,395,000 and $1,878 per square foot, while the 6 houses that closed in the 90 days before it sold between $2,525,000 and $5,995,000 and Laguna Village closed at a median $3,435,000 and $1,516 per square foot, per CRMLS. The main difference is what is for sale: 9 of the 17 asks sit at $5,000,000 or more, led by the oceanfront, while 5 of the 6 closings sat between $2,525,000 and $4,237,500 and only the new Gainsborough Drive build cleared $5,000,000. Ocean Way asks run $10,995,000 to $31,995,000, 630 Diamond Street asks $10,995,000 and 1665 Viking Road asks $10,800,000, where the closed set topped out at $5,995,000. The closed set was cottages and view houses off the water, where the inland house asks start at $2,850,000 on Glenneyre Street and the Coast Highway condominiums ask $1,399,000 to $3,800,000. The two sets come from different sources, this page’s feed for the asks and CRMLS closings inside the boundary above for the sales, so they overlap without matching house for house.
The 17 home asks in this page’s listings feed on November 6, 2026, by tier:
(delete the whole line)
No, most Woods Cove homes in Laguna Beach do not sell above asking price. 0 of the 6 Woods Cove houses that closed in the 90 days ending November 5, 2026 sold above list price, 2 closed at list and 4 closed below it, per CRMLS; all 6 closed below their original list price. The published sale-to-list ratio is Laguna Village’s, since six sales are too few for a pocket ratio: a recency-weighted 95.5% of list across 41 sales, with 1 of 41 above list. The 6 Woods Cove closings averaged 96.8% of their final list price, a raw figure on a thin sample.
Woods Cove sold at two of the three speeds in this window:
All 6 of the Woods Cove houses that closed in the 90 days ending November 5, 2026 sold below their original asking price, per CRMLS. 4 of the 6 sellers cut the list price at least once before closing. The widest gaps: 2147 Crestview Drive started at $4,250,000 and closed at $3,250,000 after 38 days, 76% of its original ask; 455 Agate Street started at $3,495,000 and closed at $2,525,000 after 49 days; 840 Gainsborough Drive, the 2025 build, started at $6,995,000, cut to $5,995,000 and closed at that final list price after 67 days.
Woods Cove homes took a median 43.5 days to sell across the 6 closings. The median falls between the middle two sales, at 38 and 49 days, and sits close to Laguna Village’s median of 49 days across 41 sales and the 46-day median across Laguna Beach’s four MLS areas (67 sales), per CRMLS closings between August 6 and November 5, 2026. Laguna Village sold 9 of its 41 homes within two weeks over that window; Woods Cove sold none of its 6, and 3 of 6 took 45 days or longer. On six sales, read the median as directional and the band counts as the record.
Active Woods Cove listings show 136 days on market because the active count measures houses that have not sold yet. The 11 single-family listings inside this page’s boundary on November 6, 2026 had a median 136 days on market, 8 of the 11 had been listed 60 days or longer, and 5 had cut their price, per CRMLS; the 6 houses that closed took a median 43.5. A portal quoting the active figure is describing unsold inventory, not how fast a priced-right Woods Cove house clears.
Woods Cove, Laguna Beach is a buyer’s market. The signals through November 5, 2026, per CRMLS: 0 of 6 closings above list, 6 of 6 under their original price, 3 of 6 taking 45 days or longer, and 8 of the 11 active listings sitting 60 days or more. Laguna Village reads the same way: 35 of its 41 closings came in under their original price. The leverage sits in time: 5 of the 8 Woods Cove listings past 60 days had already cut their price at least once.
The four balance indicators for Woods Cove:
Woods Cove has 5.5 months of supply. The 11 single-family listings active inside this page’s boundary on November 6, 2026, divided by the 6 closings over the prior 90 days (2.0 a month), equals 5.5 months, per CRMLS, both numbers from the same tape and the same boundary; on six sales the figure is directional. Laguna Village carried 4.8 months (65 active listings against 13.5 sales a month). The feed on this page shows 17 homes because Rover draws its own polygon and includes condominiums, a duplex and a house with a ground-floor retail suite; this ratio uses the page’s own boundary.
Woods Cove compares to other Laguna Beach neighborhoods as a pocket of Laguna Village that sells at close to the pace of the MLS area that holds it, per CRMLS closings between August 6 and November 5, 2026. Woods Cove’s 6 closings took a median 43.5 days, the midpoint of the middle two at 38 and 49, where Laguna Village took 49 across 41 sales and South Laguna 63 across 10. North Laguna is the priciest area, a $5,300,000 median and $2,312 per square foot across 11 sales, closing in a median 46 days at 90.5% of list, the lowest sale-to-list ratio of the three coastal areas. South Laguna is the slowest, on 10 sales whose medians each fall between the middle two values: 63 days (53 and 73), $3,862,500 ($3,725,000 and $4,000,000) and $2,128 per square foot ($1,897 and $2,358). The area rows are the numbers to price against; Woods Cove’s own row is six sales, so its dollar medians are not published here.
| Laguna Beach area or pocket | Sales | Median sale | Sale-to-list | Median days | Per sq ft | Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laguna Village (MLS area; holds Woods Cove) | 41 | $3,435,000 | 95.6% | 49 | $1,516 | 65 |
| North Laguna (MLS area) | 11 | $5,300,000 | 90.5% | 46 | $2,312 | 23 |
| South Laguna (MLS area) | 10 | $3,862,500 | 96.3% | 63 | $2,128 | 37 |
| Laguna Canyon (MLS area, thin sample) | 5 | not published | 91.8% | 3 | not published | 2 |
| Woods Cove (page boundary, thin sample) | 6 | not published | 96.8% raw | 43.5 | not published | 11 |
CRMLS closings, August 6 to November 5, 2026, single-family, raw figures, with no dollar figures under 8 sales; actives as of November 6, raw MLS counts for the four areas. Two reads from the table:
To buy a home in Woods Cove, Laguna Beach without overpaying, run three moves before the first offer: price the house by tier off the closed tape, read the bluff file before the floor plan, and check the rental and historic status that shapes what the house can earn and what it can become. The spread of home asks in this page’s feed alone runs from $1,399,000 to $31,995,000, and the tier explains most of it. A buyer strategy consult runs all three before the first showing.
Objective: anchor the offer to what Woods Cove buyers paid for the same tier. Signal: the 6 Woods Cove closings ran $2,525,000 to $5,995,000 at a raw average 96.8% of final list, all 6 under their original price, per CRMLS through November 5, 2026, against Laguna Village’s $3,435,000 closed median and a $5,395,000 median ask across the 17 homes in this page’s feed. Risk: pricing a bluff-back house against an Ocean Way closing because both see the water. Play: pull the closings for the same tier, era and lot position, set the band per square foot, and treat the view as a premium on top of the band, not a replacement for it.
Objective: know what the lot can carry. Signal: a 25-foot bluff-edge setback, no development on bluff faces, and a 75-year safety horizon with sea level rise, under the certified Local Coastal Program. Risk: buying an oceanfront lot for an addition the coastal permit will never allow. Play: the parcel’s coastal development permit history, any geotechnical report, the bluff or seawall condition, and the Commission appeal exposure, inside the contingency period. The off-market channel adds bluff lots where no listing has posted yet.
Objective: no surprises in what the house can earn or change. Signal: no new short-term rental permits in residential zones; 116 Mills Act contracts citywide under a voluntary historic program as of February 2022, per the Laguna Beach Independent. Risk: an income assumption or a remodel plan the permit file kills. Play: three checks for any Woods Cove address, before the offer deadline:
17 Woods Cove homes were for sale on November 6, 2026, in this page’s listings feed, asking $1,399,000 to $31,995,000 with a median of $5,395,000. The feed counted 21 matches: the 17 homes plus 4 lots or commercial spaces (two lots, an office building and a commercial condominium unit); the live grid on this page updates as listings change.
Woods Cove is a swimming, snorkeling and diving beach with a rocky north end. The Laguna Ocean Foundation rates the north tide pools “Advanced” and advises checking with a lifeguard on arrival, because the rocks can be closed. This page does not rate ocean conditions; the lifeguard on duty does.
Woods Cove houses show no HOA on their listings; a Coast Highway condominium listing does. None of the 6 Woods Cove houses that closed between August 6 and November 5, 2026, and none of the 11 single-family listings active inside this page’s boundary on November 6, describe a homeowners association in their CRMLS remarks, and the export behind this page carries no primary HOA-fee field, so the absence is a listing read, not a recorded zero. The listing at 1585 South Coast Highway quotes HOA dues that include most utilities except electricity and cable or internet. Confirm on the preliminary title report and the HOA disclosure for a specific property.
Woods Cove’s ZIP code is 92651. All 6 Woods Cove houses that closed between August 6 and November 5, 2026 and all 11 active single-family listings inside this page’s boundary carried ZIP 92651, per CRMLS.
Villa Rockledge, also called Mariona, is an oceanfront complex at 2529 South Coast Highway, just outside the southern end of the boundary this page uses for Woods Cove. It “was begun in 1918 and primarily finished in 1921, was designed by Los Angeles architect Arthur Benton” for Mission Inn developer Frank Miller, per its National Register nomination, and it has been listed as reference 84000922 since 1984. The Orange County Business Journal reported its sale for $14 million in January 2013.
Yes. Bette Davis bought the 1929 oceanfront house at 1991 Ocean Way in 1947 and lived in it part-time until 1950, per the Orange County Business Journal, which reported its sale for nearly $15.3 million in August 2022. The house holds a Mills Act contract and has its own beach stairs, per the same report.
This is not a conversation about touring. It is about whether the number you plan to write is anchored to the closings on this page or to the asking prices above them. In a feed where $1,399,000 and $31,995,000 homes sit in the same neighborhood, the tier is where Woods Cove buyers keep or give away seven figures.
The best time to pull the bluff file is before the listing’s first weekend, not after the counter.
Book a buyer strategy consult and leave with a price band for the tier you want, the coastal and permit read, and the four status checks already run. Or call 310-409-7242.
Next move: send the address. We will pressure-test it.
The other Laguna Beach neighborhood pages, and the hubs next door:
Signup for email alerts when properties match your interest!
Lucky for you we’re looking out.
Subscribe to this Custom Search to be alerted when new properties hit the market in the area.
Choose the frequency that works for you.
