Talega, San Clemente · CRMLS Closed Sales, January 2022 to September 2026
In Talega, you get more house for the money. You also get Mello-Roos.
Talega is the planned community in San Clemente's hills, about three miles inland, and it accounts for roughly one in five sales in the city. The houses are bigger and newer than the rest of town, and they cost about the same. The trade is a special tax line on the property tax bill. Here is what Talega has actually sold for, year by year beside the whole city, and how to read the Mello-Roos before you write an offer.
The short version
About 580 more square feet for about 4% more money.
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$1.88M
Median Talega house
San Clemente overall: $1.80M. 423 Talega house sales, Jan 2022 to Sep 2026.
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3,015
Median square feet
San Clemente overall: 2,435.
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$637
Median price per sq ft
San Clemente overall: $758. That gap is the whole story.
Almost everything here was built at once. Of the 556 Talega sales since 2022, 530 were homes built in the 2000s. The median San Clemente home sold in that stretch was built in 1986. So you are comparing a 20-year-old house on a planned street to a 40-year-old house closer to the water, and the price per square foot reflects both.
Houses, year by year
Talega moved in step with the city. 2025 was the soft year.
1. You pay less per square foot in Talega, every single year. The gap has held between about $80 and $160 a foot since 2022. That is what the neighborhood is, not a discount about to disappear. Both rose about 16.5% over the period.
2. In 2025, Talega houses took longer to sell. The typical one sat 32 days, against 21 across the city. Every other year the two were nearly identical. This year it is back to 18.
3. And more of them had to cut the price. Four in ten Talega houses dropped their price before selling in 2025, against a third citywide. In 2026 it is back to normal.
Single-family houses, CRMLS closed sales. *2026 runs through September 11. "All of San Clemente" includes Talega. The 2026 Talega median price ($1.90M) sits a touch under the city's ($1.95M), but on 65 sales that is a smaller swing than it looks.
Condos and townhomes
The attached homes sell at asking, and fast.
The median Talega condo or townhome has sold at 100% of its final list price every year since 2022, for a median of $935,000 on a home built around 2003. The clearest sign is price cuts: in 2025, when more than a third of attached homes citywide cut their price, about one in eight in Talega did.
19 to 34 Talega condo and townhome sales a year, so read the direction, not any single year. *2026 runs through September 11.
See every number behind these charts
Houses
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talega houses sold | 61 | 97 | 116 | 84 | 65 |
| San Clemente houses sold | 356 | 424 | 494 | 477 | 326 |
| Talega houses median price | $1.80M | $1.78M | $1.90M | $2.05M | $1.90M |
| San Clemente houses median price | $1.70M | $1.73M | $1.82M | $1.88M | $1.95M |
| Talega houses price per sq ft | $586 | $605 | $644 | $679 | $683 |
| San Clemente houses price per sq ft | $724 | $685 | $758 | $810 | $843 |
| Talega houses cut price before selling | 25% | 27% | 27% | 42% | 28% |
| San Clemente houses cut price before selling | 31% | 32% | 29% | 34% | 23% |
| Talega houses median days on market | 12 | 16 | 14 | 32 | 18 |
| San Clemente houses median days on market | 12 | 16 | 14 | 21 | 11 |
Condos and townhomes
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talega condos sold | 34 | 20 | 34 | 26 | 19 |
| San Clemente condos sold | 123 | 113 | 146 | 131 | 107 |
| Talega condos median price | $850K | $894K | $945K | $1.02M | $1.08M |
| San Clemente condos median price | $905K | $1.01M | $969K | $1.07M | $1.10M |
| Talega condos price per sq ft | $504 | $542 | $565 | $586 | $607 |
| San Clemente condos price per sq ft | $605 | $713 | $698 | $782 | $772 |
| Talega condos cut price before selling | 26% | 10% | 21% | 12% | 21% |
| San Clemente condos cut price before selling | 20% | 26% | 29% | 36% | 27% |
| Talega condos median days on market | 9 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 8 |
| San Clemente condos median days on market | 8 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 13 |
Medians from CRMLS closed sales, January 2022 through September 11, 2026. Sales with flagged prices are excluded.
The part to read before you offer
Two special tax districts, and how to find your number.
Mello-Roos is a special tax that pays off bonds used to build a new community's infrastructure. It sits on the property tax bill on top of the regular 1% base, and it is not capped by Prop 13 the way the base tax is. In Talega, two public agencies levy it.
School district: Capistrano Unified CFD 90-2
Paid for schools, roads and bridges. Two bond issues still being repaid.
$41.9M still owed across all of Talega
$6.05M collected from Talega owners each year
Payoff year: not published. Ask the district.
Water district: Santa Margarita CFD 99-1
Paid for water and sewer lines.
$31.5M still owed across all of Talega
$6.74M collected from Talega owners each year
Payoff year: 2038.
These are totals for the whole community, not what one home pays. Your home's share is on its tax bill (see below). School district figures: $19.5M (2016 bonds) plus $22.5M (Improvement Area 2002-1, 2023 bonds), as of June 30, 2025, from the district's filings with the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission. Water district figures as of June 30, 2021, the latest it posts.
When it ends
Santa Margarita Water District lists 2038 as the outstanding bond maturity for Talega. Capistrano Unified's filings report what is still owed but not a payoff year. Do not assume a date for the school district's portion. Ask the district for the schedule that applies to the parcel you are buying.
It has already come down twice
Both districts refinanced and passed savings back to Talega owners. In 2014 the Capistrano Unified board voted to return $17 million from a refinancing, about $314 a year for the average homeowner. In 2017 Santa Margarita refinanced its Talega bonds and put the savings at $9 million over 13 years, about $250 a year off the average tax bill.
How to find the number on a specific home
- Read the actual tax bill. On an Orange County secured property tax bill, Mello-Roos shows under Special Assessment Charges with each district named and a phone number for the agency that issued the debt. Ask for the current bill early, not at the end of escrow.
- Check the County's map. The Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector's Mello-Roos map shows districts parcel by parcel.
- Get the seller's notice. California Civil Code 1102.6b requires the seller to make a good-faith effort to obtain and deliver the notice of special tax from each district that levies one.
- Underwrite it like a payment. The amount varies from home to home within Talega, so a neighbor's number is not yours. Put the real figure into the monthly cost before your contingencies run out.
Separately from Mello-Roos, Talega homes pay dues to the master association, the Talega Maintenance Corporation, and many neighborhoods also have their own sub-association. Ask for both.
The place
What Talega is.
Talega is a master-planned community of about 3,510 acres in the hills of eastern San Clemente, roughly two miles east of Interstate 5. Construction began in 1999. The architecture is mostly Spanish and Tuscan, and there are no full custom homes: it is tract houses, condos, townhomes and some apartments, in more than 40 separately named tracts in the sales records alone.
- Schools: Capistrano Unified School District. Vista Del Mar is the K-8 school inside Talega.
- Parks: City parks including Talega Park, Liberty Park and Tierra Grande Park, plus neighborhood parks run by the associations.
- Golf: Talega has its own golf course.
- The Gallery: an age-restricted 55+ section of Talega.
- Shopping: a shopping center with Ralphs, Target and Walmart.
Across all 556 Talega sales since 2022, five bedrooms was the most common count, just ahead of four.
Questions people ask
Talega, answered.
Does Talega have Mello-Roos?
Yes, from two districts: Capistrano Unified CFD No. 90-2 for schools, roads and bridges, and Santa Margarita Water District CFD No. 99-1 for water and sewer. Both show on the property tax bill under Special Assessment Charges.
When does the Talega Mello-Roos end?
The water district lists 2038 for its Talega bonds. The school district has not published a payoff year in its recent filings. Ask the district for the schedule on the specific parcel.
How much does a house in Talega cost?
The median Talega house sold for $1,875,000 from January 2022 to September 2026, for a median 3,015 square feet. Condos and townhomes sold for a median $935,000.
Is Talega cheaper than the rest of San Clemente?
Not in total price. The median Talega house costs slightly more than the city median. Per square foot it is cheaper, $637 against $758. The homes are larger, newer and further from the beach.
How fast do Talega homes sell?
In 2026 so far, the median Talega house sold in 18 days and the median condo or townhome in 8. In 2025 houses took 32 days, the slowest year in this data.
Sources
Where these numbers come from.
- Sales: CRMLS closed sales, San Clemente, January 1, 2022 to September 11, 2026. Talega is defined by map boundary, not by the MLS subdivision field. Medians of individual sales.
- Capistrano Unified School District, Mello-Roos Yearly Fiscal Status Reports, CFD No. 90-2 Series 2016 and IA 2002-1 Series 2023, reporting year ended June 30, 2025.
- Santa Margarita Water District, About Your Tax Bill (bond maturity), and the CFD No. 99-1 Series 2017 Yearly Fiscal Status Report, June 30, 2021.
- DTA, special tax consultant, Talega (what each district finances).
- Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Mello-Roos Information.
- California Civil Code Section 1102.6b.
- San Clemente Patch, Talega Homeowners Get $17 Mil Tax Break, January 2014. Santa Margarita Water District, Bond Refunding to Save Talega Ratepayers $9 Million, August 2017.
- Community facts: Talega, San Clemente, California.
Run it on a real address
Looking at a home in Talega?
Send me the address. I will pull what that tract has actually sold for, find the special tax on that parcel, and tell you what the full monthly cost looks like with it in. 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
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