Faro Labs / Markets / Huntington Beach, CA
Huntington Beach real estate investment market
What a typical rental in Huntington Beach, California costs, rents for, and returns: underwritten by Faro's own engine, not a scraped summary.
Returns assume 20% down at 6.75% over 30 years, 7% vacancy, and standard operating costs: Faro's default assumptions, the same ones every report starts from. Home value and rent trends as of 2026-05-31.
Appreciation market
A typical Huntington Beach rental runs $6,413 short each month at market rent, so the case for buying rests on values rising: they moved 4.2% over the last year. That is a bet on the market rather than on the building, and it needs reserves deep enough to fund the shortfall.
The price a deal actually works at
Faro models five price points for Huntington Beach, from a weak buy to a strong one. The market-rate deal is $1,372,691; a good buy is $1,235,422 and a great one $1,098,153 roughly 20% below market value. Those are the bars a specific listing gets measured against when you run it.
How Huntington Beach compares
Of the 210 markets Faro publishes, Huntington Beach is the 8th most expensive to buy into: 246% above the median covered market, and the 204th strongest on rent-to-price. Within California it's the 7th priciest of 42 markets we cover. On the last year of home-value change it ranks 13th.
To break even at the default financing, a typical Huntington Beach property would need about $11,194 a month in rent: $7,917 more than the $3,277 the market currently supports.
What each tier costs in Huntington Beach
Faro models five price points per market. A listing gets measured against these bars, not against a national average.
| Tier | Purchase price | Market rent | vs. market rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak buy | $1,509,960 | $3,113/mo | +10% |
| Fair buy | $1,441,326 | $3,211/mo | +5% |
| Market rate | $1,372,691 | $3,277/mo | — |
| Good buy | $1,235,422 | $3,441/mo | -10% |
| Great buy | $1,098,153 | $3,605/mo | -20% |
A typical Huntington Beach deal, underwritten
The market-rate property above, run through the same engine every Faro report uses.
| Purchase price | $1,372,691 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $3,277 |
| Cash required (20% down + 3% closing) | $315,719 |
| Net operating income | $8,517/yr |
| Monthly cash flow | -$6,413 |
| Cap rate | 0.6% |
| Cash-on-cash return | −24.4% |
| DSCR | 0.10 |
Expensive, and the rent doesn't follow
Huntington Beach is the 8th most expensive of the 210 markets here, 245.7% above the median, but rent only reaches 0.24% of price a month, so the income never scales with the entry cost. A typical property needs $315,719 in cash and still runs $6,413 short each month. Buyers here are underwriting appreciation and the loan paydown, not the rent, whether or not they say so.
What it would take to break even
A typical Huntington Beach property would need about $11,194 a month to cover itself at the default financing: 242% above the $3,277 the market currently supports. That gap is the honest size of the problem: it isn't closed by trimming an expense line, it's closed by buying meaningfully below market, putting more down, or finding a property that rents well above its market's median.
Where it sits in California
Faro covers 42 California markets, and Huntington Beach is the 7th priciest of them at $1,372,691. Within a single state the tax and insurance environment is broadly shared, so the differences between these markets come down to price, rent, and pace, which makes them the most useful comparison set on this page. The nearby markets listed below are the rest of that set.
Huntington Beach investor questions
Is Huntington Beach a good place to buy rental property?
A typical Huntington Beach rental at $1,372,691 renting for $3,277 a month returns 0.6% on a cap-rate basis and runs short by $6,413 a month at 20% down. Individual deals vary far more than markets do, which is the whole reason to underwrite a specific address.
Can you cash-flow a rental in Huntington Beach?
Not at the market's own price and rent. A typical property runs $6,413 short each month. It would need about $11,194 in rent to break even. Deals that work here are bought below market rather than at it, which is what the price ladder above is for.
Are Huntington Beach home prices still rising?
Values rose 4.2% over the last year across 5 covered ZIP codes. Faro underwrites deals on cash flow and treats appreciation as upside rather than a plan, so a rising market improves a deal that already works: it doesn't rescue one that doesn't.
Are rents going up in Huntington Beach?
Rents moved up 2.1% over the last year, measured across 4 ZIP codes. The typical market-rate rental sits at $3,277 a month.
Other California markets
Run the numbers yourself
A market average is not a deal.
Paste a real Huntington Beach listing and Faro underwrites that specific property from its own comps, with a target price you can actually offer.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only: not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.