Overview
About Bayshores
Bayshores sits on the mainland shore of Newport Harbor's turning basin, entered off West Coast Highway, and it is private in the literal sense: the streets, the alleys and every common area, including both beaches, the dock, the clubhouse and the children's park, are owned and managed by the Bayshores Community Association rather than the city. The association describes 249 original lots, a handful of which neighboring owners have since merged; the city's own record carries 294 residential units and lists the community as gated. Entry runs through a staffed guardhouse with a resident lane and a visitor lane, resident decals, and guest passes registered ahead through the dwellingLIVE system.
The association's rules name the two private beaches the swim beach and the play beach. Both are open to residents and their guests from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with no lifeguard on duty at any time, and both carry association gas grills on cement pads with tables and chairs. The recreation grounds also hold a volleyball court, a platform slide, the children's park, the clubhouse, kayak and paddleboard storage at each beach limited to two per household, and a T-dock whose four spaces give residents free daytime dinghy tie-up. Newport-Mesa Unified assigns these addresses to Newport Heights Elementary, then Ensign Intermediate, then Newport Harbor High.
View available homes in BayshoresHistory
How Bayshores was built
Bayshores sits on the turning basin at the head of the harbor, where the channel widens enough for a boat to come about, and it went down over twenty years and five recorded subdivision maps. The county recorded the first, Tract 1014, on 6 December 1937 under surveyor C. R. Browning, then Tract 1102 in 1945, Tract 1140 in 1946, Tract 2095 in 1954 and Tract 3277 in 1957, the last four all surveyed by Jack S. Raub. On the two oldest of those maps the county's own city field reads BAY SHORES, so the name was on the record before the city grew out to meet it.
John Wayne lived here for the last years of his life, on a low house facing the water. He kept the Wild Goose, a converted navy minesweeper, in Newport Harbor, and in 1973 he built the John Wayne Tennis Club in town, which was sold and became the Palisades Tennis Club in 1995. His house is gone, replaced by a much larger one.
By the Numbers
Bayshores by the numbers
Real Estate
Market snapshot
Real estate snapshot
6 closed sales · 01/01/26 – 08/17/26
| Median sale price | $13,300,000 |
| Median price per sq ft | $3366 |
| Median home size | 3,937 sq ft |
| Median days on market | 20 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 1.0% |
| Price range | $6,000,000 – $33,500,000 |
| Year built | 1952 – 2024 |
Price range distribution
Share of closed sales by price band
Our Sales
Our recent sales in Bayshores
No transaction of ours in this neighborhood yet. The section renders only real transactions.
Lifestyle
The Bayshores lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Bayshores
Bayshores addresses return one chain of schools from Newport-Mesa Unified's own locator: Newport Heights Elementary, with 507 students, then Ensign Intermediate, with 878, then Newport Harbor High, with 2,044. Newport Harbor High has run the district's only International Baccalaureate Diploma Program since 2010. The district adjusts boundaries periodically, so confirm the assignment for a specific address with the district's locator before it matters to an offer.
TK-6 · 507 students
7-8 · 878 students
9-12 · 2,044 students
FAQs
Common questions about Bayshores
What do the two private beaches offer?
The association's rules name them the swim beach and the play beach, both reserved for residents and their guests and open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Neither has lifeguard service at any time. Picnicking is allowed year round on both, with association-owned gas grills on cement pads plus tables and chairs, and the grounds carry a volleyball court, a platform slide and the children's park. Kayak and paddleboard storage sits at each beach, residents only, up to two craft a household, for an annual fee the board sets, which was $150 in 2022.
Can I keep a boat here?
The association's T-dock offers four dinghy tie-up spaces free of charge to residents for short-term daytime use, up to two of which the board may allocate annually for long-term storage, and no dinghy on daytime use may stay overnight. The Bayshore Marina inside the community is a separate matter: The Irvine Company owns it and California Recreation Company operates it, it is not association common area, and residents have no right to use it unless they are marina tenants or hold an assigned parking right.
Can I rent out a home in Bayshores?
Only on a term of at least 30 days. Short-term rentals are prohibited outright, and the association charges the owner $250 a day for a first violation and $350 a day after that. Party rules also bite: a beach gathering of more than 20 people, or any gathering with a food truck or bounce house, counts as a Large Party and needs a reservation, an application ten days ahead and a $500 security deposit, with summer weekend Large Parties at the swim beach restricted.
What sold in Bayshores this year?
Six homes closed between January 1 and August 17 of 2026, every one of them a detached single family home, at a median of $13,300,000 and $3,366 a square foot on a median size of 3,937 square feet. The lowest closed at $6,000,000 and the highest at $33,500,000, so all six cleared $5 million. Half went into escrow within 20 days. Two homes stood active at the August 17 pull, which in a community of 249 makes even one listing a meaningful share of the year.
Which schools serve Bayshores?
Newport-Mesa Unified's own locator returns one chain for Bayshores addresses: Newport Heights Elementary, 507 students with 78% meeting or exceeding standard in English and 70% in math, then Horace Ensign Intermediate, 878 students in grades 7 and 8, then Newport Harbor High, 2,044 students with a 96.8% graduation rate. Newport Harbor has run the district's only International Baccalaureate Diploma Program since 2010. The district adjusts boundaries periodically, so confirm the assignment for a specific address.