A beach town inside the City of Encinitas, between the San Elijo Lagoon and Swami's — and the home of our office.
Cardiff-by-the-Sea is one of the five communities that make up the City of Encinitas. It has its own zip code, its own surf breaks and its own small village center — but its zoning, building and coastal permits all come from the City of Encinitas.
Our office is on San Elijo Avenue, a few blocks from the beach, so this is the market our team knows street by street. The biggest dividing line is I-5: from January 2025 through November 10, 2026, homes west of the freeway sold for a median of $2.75M, and homes east of it for $1.63M. This guide breaks the market down the way we walk clients through it: what is selling, what each budget buys, how the neighborhoods differ, and the Encinitas rules that shape what you can build.
Price, beds, ocean view, single level, timing — it takes about a minute. Our team reads every request.
| 2026 so far | Sales | Median price | $ / sq ft | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-family | 43▼ 5 | $2,850,000▲ 25% | $1,256▲ 15% | 18−5 days |
Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2026. Small lines = change from the same dates in 2025.
| Closed sales, 92007 | Sales | Median price | $ / sq ft | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All homes · 2026 YTD | 75 | $2,475,000 | $1,225 | 18 |
| All homes · Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2025 | 88 | $2,158,000 | $1,072 | 22 |
| All homes · full-year 2025 | 97 | $2,215,000 | $1,083 | 22 |
| Single-family · 2026 YTD | 43 | $2,850,000 | $1,256 | 18 |
| Single-family · Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2025 | 48 | $2,280,000 | $1,092 | 23 |
| Single-family · full-year 2025 | 55 | $2,285,000 | $1,110 | 23 |
Source: San Diego MLS, closed residential sales, Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2026 vs. Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2025, and full-year 2025. Zip 92007 homes placed in the three Cardiff areas on our map below (houses, condos and townhomes; manufactured homes and timeshares not counted). One 2025 record with an obviously wrong price was left out. "Single-family" means detached homes. Medians; "Days" is median days on market.
Compass was the #1 brokerage in Cardiff in 2025, with a 25% share of closed residential sales volume (San Diego MLS, 2025, both sides of each sale).
One median hides a lot. Here is how each part of Cardiff-by-the-Sea has actually sold, area by area. Tap an area on the map or read the list.
Houses $2.85M (17) · Condos & townhomes $2.35M (16)
2025: 33 sales, median $2.62M, $1,115 / sq ft
Get Cardiff Village homes ›2025: 23 sales, median $3.20M, $1,380 / sq ft
Get Composer District homes ›Houses $2.37M (19) · Condos & townhomes $1.08M (15)
2025: 41 sales, median $1.62M, $994 / sq ft
Get East of I-5 homes ›Source: San Diego MLS, closed sales of houses, condos and townhomes. "Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2026" = Jan 1 – Nov 10, 2026; map shading uses Jan 2025 – Nov 2026. Medians. Typical range = the middle half of sales (25th to 75th percentile). "Days" = median days on market. Areas with fewer than 5 sales in a period show "too few sales to report." Area outlines are approximate; see below.
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll send you every match, including homes that may never hit the open market.
Based on every 92007 sale from January 1, 2025 through November 10, 2026. In Cardiff, the freeway and the hill decide the price: most sales under $2.5M were east of I-5, most sales between $2.5M and $4M were in Cardiff Village, and most sales over $4M were in the Composer District.
~$2M
Most often a single-family home east of I-5, around Lake Drive, Sea Village and the hills above the lagoon (34 of 58 sales). West of the freeway, this range usually means a smaller home or a townhome in Cardiff Village.
~$3M
The heart of the Cardiff Village market: 38 of 62 sales were in the grid south of Birmingham Drive, a walk from the beach and Restaurant Row. More than a third (23 of 62) were attached and duplex-style homes on small lots.
$4M+
Ten of the twelve were in the Composer District and on the hillside streets north of Birmingham Drive, where ocean views and larger lots set the price. The highest-priced Cardiff sale from January 2025 through November 10, 2026 closed at $9.3M. With only a handful of sales a year, each one is priced on its own merits.
Source: San Diego MLS, closed residential sales in zip 92007, Jan 1, 2025 – Nov 10, 2026. Medians. Areas are the ones on our small-markets map, based on each home's map location.
The grid of streets named for British and Irish towns — Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Chesterfield, Dublin — running from San Elijo Avenue up toward the freeway and down to the lagoon. Cardiff Towne Center, the Newcastle Avenue shops and Restaurant Row are all a short walk. Lots are small, and original cottages sit next to newer two-story homes and attached homes. Cardiff's small business district, about 17 acres along San Elijo and Newcastle avenues zoned under the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Specific Plan, runs from here north to Mozart Avenue; our office is there, on San Elijo Avenue. Median sale, January 2025 – November 10, 2026: $2.69M.
Hillside streets named for composers — Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Liszt, Rubenstein — climbing from San Elijo Avenue, with Swami's and San Elijo State Beach close by. Many lots have ocean views, and lots run larger than in the village. Together with the English-named streets nearer the freeway, such as Sheffield and Warwick, this is Cardiff's highest-priced area: a median of $3.5M from January 2025 through November 10, 2026.
Cardiff's quieter side of the freeway: single-family streets around Lake Drive, Sea Village Drive and the hills overlooking the San Elijo Lagoon, plus several townhome and condo communities. It is the most common way into Cardiff, with a median sale of $1.63M from January 2025 through November 10, 2026 — with the same 92007 address and a short drive to the beach.
Cardiff State Beach runs south toward Solana Beach, San Elijo State Beach has a campground on the bluff, and Cardiff Reef — "the Reef" — is one of the area's best-known surf spots, with tide pools at low tide.
A strip of restaurants on Coast Highway 101 between the lagoon and the sand, where dinner comes with an ocean sunset.
The San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve wraps Cardiff's southern and eastern edge, with miles of walking trails and a nature center on Manchester Avenue.
The bronze surfer statue at Coast Highway 101 and Chesterfield Drive, officially "Magic Carpet Ride" (2007). Locals dress it up for holidays, games and the occasional prank.
Cardiff Towne Center, the shops along Newcastle and San Elijo avenues and Seaside Market (open since 1985) cover groceries, coffee and dinner without getting in the car.
Most of Cardiff is served by the Cardiff School District (Cardiff Elementary and Ada Harris Elementary) and the San Dieguito Union High School District (grades 7–12). Boundaries vary by address, so confirm with each district.
Sold · Cardiff · 20251530-32 Summit Ave5 Beds · 5 Baths · 3,466 Sq Ft$5,493,552
Sold · Cardiff263 Avenue de Monaco5 Beds · 5 Baths · 2,991 Sq Ft$4,250,000
Sold · Cardiff252 Dublin Dr4 Beds · 3 Baths · 2,880 Sq Ft$3,500,000
Sold · Cardiff2012 Cambridge Ave.3 Beds · 3 Baths · 1,840 Sq Ft$2,749,000
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and depend on the parcel — we confirm details with the City of Encinitas and the right professionals on every deal.
No. Cardiff-by-the-Sea is one of the five communities that make up the City of Encinitas, along with Old Encinitas, New Encinitas, Leucadia and Olivenhain. Addresses say "Cardiff" and the zip code is 92007, but zoning, building permits and coastal permits come from the City of Encinitas.
The rules are in the Encinitas Municipal Code. Its zoning title, Title 30, also serves as the Implementation Plan of the City's Coastal Commission–certified Local Coastal Program.
Source: City of Encinitas Community Areas map; Encinitas Municipal Code Title 30 (Zoning), as described in Coastal Commission staff report LCPA 6-ENC-22-0014-1 (2022).Often, yes. Cardiff is in the California Coastal Zone — every Cardiff home sold from January 2025 through November 10, 2026 is inside it on the City's map. A coastal development permit is required for all development in the Coastal Zone unless the code exempts it, and the City of Encinitas has issued these permits itself since May 15, 1995.
Improvements to an existing single-family home are generally exempt, but not if the project needs another discretionary approval, such as a variance or use permit, or falls under the Coastal Bluff Overlay. Near the beach, bluffs and the lagoon, the City's decisions can be appealed to the Coastal Commission.
Source: Encinitas Municipal Code §30.80.010 and §30.80.050(A); California Coastal Act §30603.They exist citywide, but they rarely touch Cardiff homes: none of the Cardiff homes sold from January 2025 through November 10, 2026 were in the Coastal Bluff Overlay Zone on the City's map. The overlay matters most along Neptune Avenue and the bluffs of Leucadia and Old Encinitas.
Where it applies, nothing new may be built within 40 feet of the top of the bluff. An addition to a home already closer than that may come as near as 25 feet, if it goes no further seaward and the owner agrees to remove it if it is ever threatened. Every application needs a soils report and geotechnical review by a prequalified certified engineering geologist, and permanent irrigation is not allowed within 40 feet of the bluff edge.
Source: Encinitas Municipal Code §30.34.020(B)(1), (B)(6) and (D) (Coastal Bluff Overlay Zone).In most cases, yes. Encinitas allows accessory dwelling units wherever homes are allowed. An ADU of up to 800 square feet, 16 feet tall, with 4-foot side and rear setbacks is allowed no matter the size of the main home, and the City reviews ADU applications without a hearing and acts within 60 days. A junior ADU is up to 500 square feet, inside the existing home.
Because Cardiff is in the Coastal Zone, an ADU or JADU that is not fully inside the existing home, adds living space or converts non-living space also needs a coastal development permit, often an administrative one.
Source: Encinitas Municipal Code §30.48.040(T), including (T)(21), and §30.48.040(U); California Government Code §66313(d).It is the zoning plan for Cardiff's business district: about 17 acres along San Elijo Avenue and Newcastle Avenue, from Mozart Avenue south to Orinda Drive. The City adopted it in 2010, and the Coastal Commission certified it with changes.
It has four zones — residential (C-R-11), office, general commercial and mixed commercial — and uses setbacks, second-floor stepbacks and "view corners" at key intersections to keep ocean views open. Commercial buildings are limited to 18 feet for one story and 30 feet for two. Homes follow the citywide R-11 height limit of 22 feet, or 26 feet with a pitched roof.
Source: Cardiff-by-the-Sea Specific Plan (adopted July 21, 2010); Coastal Commission staff report ENC-MAJ-2-11 (2012).Most Cardiff homes are in the City's R-11, R-8, R-5 or R-3 residential zones; of the 172 homes in 92007 sold from January 2025 through November 10, 2026, 85 were zoned R-11 and 41 were R-8. In Encinitas, lot coverage is the main size limit: 40% of the lot in R-8 and R-11, and 35% in R-3 and R-5. R-5, R-8 and R-11 also limit floor area to 0.6 times the lot (0.5 on an undersized R-11 lot).
Homes in these zones are limited to two stories and 22 feet, or 26 feet with a pitched roof.
Source: Encinitas Municipal Code §30.16.010 (Table A) and §30.16.010(B)(6); City of Encinitas zoning map. Confirm the limits for a specific lot with the City.Enter an address and see the Encinitas zoning, setbacks, height, lot coverage and ADU rules that apply — with the city code cited for every rule.
Cardiff is our home base. Whether you are buying, selling or planning a build, stop by the office on San Elijo Avenue or reach out, and our team will walk you through the street-by-street numbers. We respond within 24 hours.
