Forster Ranch, San Clemente · CRMLS Closed Sales, January 2022 to September 2026
Forster Ranch sells faster than the city, for less per square foot, with no Mello-Roos.
Forster Ranch is the planned community in San Clemente's northern hills, between San Juan Capistrano and Talega. The houses are newer and bigger than the city's middle, and they cost less per foot. Unlike Talega next door, there is no special tax line on the bills we checked. Here is what Forster Ranch has actually sold for since 2022, year by year beside the whole city.
The short version
About 400 more square feet for about $100,000 less.
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$1.69M
Median Forster Ranch house
San Clemente overall: $1.80M. 254 Forster Ranch house sales, Jan 2022 to Sep 2026.
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2,835
Median square feet
San Clemente overall: 2,435.
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$676
Median price per sq ft
San Clemente overall: $758.
Most of it went up in one stretch. The median Forster Ranch house that sold since 2022 was built in 2000, against 1987 for the city. Fewer of them look at the water: about one listing in five named an ocean view, against about half citywide. That is a large part of the per-foot gap.
Houses, year by year
Less per foot every year, and quicker to sell.
1. A square foot costs $83 to $112 less than the city, every year. Forster Ranch rose 14% a foot from 2022 to 2026 so far. The city rose 16%. Same direction, lower starting point.
2. Houses go under contract sooner. In four of the five years the typical Forster Ranch house sold faster than the city's. In 2025, when the city's median stretched to 21 days, Forster Ranch's was 13.
3. Fewer price cuts since 2024. 2022 was the exception, when more than a third of Forster Ranch houses cut their price. Since then it has run below the city every year.
Single-family houses, CRMLS closed sales. *2026 runs through September 11. "All of San Clemente" includes Forster Ranch. 35 to 70 Forster Ranch house sales a year.
See every number behind these charts
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forster Ranch houses sold | 49 | 48 | 52 | 70 | 35 |
| San Clemente houses sold | 356 | 424 | 494 | 477 | 326 |
| Forster Ranch houses median price | $1.59M | $1.60M | $1.79M | $1.82M | $1.80M |
| San Clemente houses median price | $1.70M | $1.73M | $1.81M | $1.88M | $1.95M |
| Forster Ranch houses price per sq ft | $641 | $593 | $654 | $722 | $731 |
| San Clemente houses price per sq ft | $724 | $685 | $758 | $810 | $843 |
| Forster Ranch houses cut price before selling | 37% | 31% | 19% | 27% | 17% |
| San Clemente houses cut price before selling | 31% | 32% | 29% | 34% | 23% |
| Forster Ranch houses median days on market | 14 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 9 |
| San Clemente houses median days on market | 12 | 16 | 14 | 21 | 11 |
Condos and townhomes are left out of the charts: 18 sales in Forster Ranch since 2022, a median $1,036,500, most under contract within a week.
The tax line
No Mello-Roos on the sales we checked. Talega next door has two districts.
We looked up every Forster Ranch parcel that sold since January 2022, 250 of them, on the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector's parcel tax map. None shows a Mello-Roos district. In Talega, the neighborhood immediately east, homes pay special taxes to two districts, one for schools and roads and one for water and sewer. The Talega guide has the details.
Forster Ranch
Median house, Jan 2022 to Sep 2026
$1.69M for 2,835 sq ft
$676 a square foot
Mello-Roos: none found on 250 parcels.
Talega
Median house, same period
$1.88M for 3,015 sq ft
$637 a square foot
Mello-Roos: two districts, schools and water.
What you pay instead is association dues. Forster Ranch has a master association, Forster Ranch Master Association I, formed in 1984, and many tracts have their own association on top of it. Ask for both budgets and both dues before you write an offer.
The County map is a check, not a guarantee. Read the actual tax bill for the specific home, and the seller's notice of special tax under California Civil Code 1102.6b, before your contingencies run out.
The Reserves
The gated corner of Forster Ranch is a different market.
Four tracts on the south edge, Reserve North, South, East and West, were built between 2002 and 2005. 41 of the 45 house listings that sold there since 2022 described the community as gated. They are the biggest and most expensive houses in Forster Ranch, and they take longer to sell.
The Reserves
45 house sales since 2022
$2.40M median, 3,256 sq ft
$731 a square foot
Median 30 days on market.
The rest of Forster Ranch
209 house sales since 2022
$1.63M median, 2,530 sq ft
$647 a square foot
Median 9 days on market.
A $2.4 million buyer pool is smaller than a $1.6 million one. If you are selling in the Reserves, plan on weeks, not days. If you are buying there, that is time on your side.
The place
What Forster Ranch is.
The City of San Clemente's Forster Ranch Specific Plan covers 1,982 acres in the northwest of the city, bounded by San Juan Capistrano on the west and north, the Prima Deshecha landfill, which is planned to become a county regional park, on the north, Talega on the east, and Marblehead Inland and Rancho San Clemente on the south. The current plan was adopted in 1998. The main streets are Camino De Los Mares, Camino Vera Cruz, Camino Del Rio, Portico Del Sur, Portico Del Norte and Sarmentoso.
- Forster Ranch Community Park, 3207 Camino Vera Cruz: ball fields, soccer fields, a running track, lighted tennis courts, a play area and picnic tables.
- Forster Ranch Ridgeline Trail: 3.2 miles along the crest of the hills on the south and east of the development, with three marked viewpoints looking toward the ocean. The trailhead is at Camino Vera Cruz and Avenida Vista Hermosa.
- Schools: Capistrano Unified School District, which serves San Clemente.
- Houses: four and five bedrooms account for about seven in ten sales since 2022.
How we drew it. This page follows the tracts named Forster Ranch in the sales records, north of Camino Vera Cruz, plus the four Reserve tracts. Marlborough Seaview and the streets south of Camino Vera Cruz toward Shorecliffs are left out, because listings label them inconsistently. They get their own read later.
Questions people ask
Forster Ranch, answered.
Does Forster Ranch have Mello-Roos?
None of the 250 Forster Ranch parcels that sold from January 2022 to September 2026 shows a Mello-Roos district on the Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector's parcel tax map. Talega, next door, has two. Confirm on the tax bill of the specific home before you remove contingencies.
How much does a house in Forster Ranch cost?
The median Forster Ranch house sold for $1,692,500 from January 2022 to September 2026, for a median 2,835 square feet, or $676 a square foot. San Clemente overall: $1,800,000, 2,435 square feet, $758 a foot.
Forster Ranch or Talega?
Talega houses were bigger and cost more in total, a median $1,875,000 for 3,015 square feet, but less per foot, $637 against Forster Ranch's $676. Talega carries Mello-Roos from two districts. Forster Ranch, on the sales we checked, carries none.
Is Forster Ranch gated?
Most of it is not. The four Reserve tracts on the south edge are the exception: 41 of the 45 house listings that sold there since 2022 described the community as gated.
How fast do Forster Ranch homes sell?
The median house went under contract in 11 days from 2022 to September 2026, against 14 for San Clemente overall. In 2026 so far it is 9 days.
Sources
Where these numbers come from.
- Sales: CRMLS closed sales, San Clemente, January 1, 2022 to September 11, 2026. Forster Ranch is defined by a map boundary drawn around where the homes sit, not by the MLS subdivision field. Medians of individual sales; sales flagged with a suspect price are excluded.
- Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, OC Tax Map (Mello-Roos and special assessments by parcel), checked September 28, 2026 for every parcel in the sales above. Mello-Roos Information.
- City of San Clemente, Specific Plans (Forster Ranch Specific Plan: acreage, boundaries, adoption, major streets).
- City of San Clemente, Forster Ranch Community Park and Forster Ranch Ridgeline Trail.
- Forster Ranch Master Association I, nonprofit registration, via Cause IQ (formed 1984).
- Gated and ocean-view shares: listing descriptions and view fields on the CRMLS sales above.
- Talega comparison: Talega home prices and Mello-Roos, same data and period.
- California Civil Code Section 1102.6b. Capistrano Unified School District.
Run it on a real address
Looking at a home in Forster Ranch?
Send me the address. I will pull what that tract has actually sold for, check the tax bill and the association dues, and tell you what the full monthly cost looks like. If the number does not work, better to know before the offer. I live in San Clemente. Text or email is the easiest way in.
Phone 949.541.8247
Email [email protected]
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License Adam Boehrer, Real Estate Agent, DRE #02419464, Pacific Sotheby's International Realty
Keep Reading
- Talega Home Prices and Mello-Roos, the neighborhood next door, year by year.
- San Clemente and Dana Point neighborhoods, every guide in one place.
- San Clemente Home Prices and Market Report, the current citywide median and expected market time.
- Coastal Currents, a monthly read on the South Orange County market.