Living in Chino Hills

Chino Hills sits just east of Chino, built up into the hills rather than across flat valley floor, and incorporated relatively recently, in 1991: most of the city was developed after that, which shows in the housing stock. It’s a quieter, more upscale suburban city than most of its Inland Empire neighbors, with winding streets following the terrain instead of a grid.

Housing is almost entirely newer construction (1990s through the 2000s, with larger lots and more square footage than flatland Chino next door) and it prices well above it too, closer to Diamond Bar and the hill-country cities on this list.

Chino Hills fits a buyer who wants a newer, larger home and hillside setting without going all the way to the coast or the LA County hill communities. For a seller, the hillside lots and view homes carry a real premium here that a flatter comparable a few streets over won’t match.

The market right now

Chino Hills’ median has drifted down slightly over the past year, about 1%, with homes going under contract in three weeks. For a buyer, that slight softening after years of strong hillside demand creates a little more room to negotiate than in neighboring Chino. For a seller, it’s still a healthy market, just one where an ambitious asking price is more likely to sit than to get chased.