An Ivins master-planned community
Living in Kayenta
Kayenta is roughly 2,000 acres of western Ivins, where the houses were taught to disappear. The custom homes are low and earth-toned, and they are scattered village by village against Red Mountain. There are no streetlights anywhere, and an art village sits at the center. More than 80 percent of the borders back straight to open desert.
New to the area? Start with the Ivins guide, then come back for the desert.
Current listings
Homes for sale in Kayenta
These listings come straight from the MLS and cover the whole community: Taviawk, Kwavasa, Posovi, Shonto Point, Willow Springs, and every other Kayenta village and plat, all in one search. New listings appear here the day they list, and sold homes drop off. Custom homes and building lots sell side by side out here. Judge each kind of listing on its own.
No homes available? Be sure to check out all Ivins listings.
Want the map view? Open the full Kayenta search. Selling instead? Start with what your home is worth.
Listing information comes from the local MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
On this page
Life in the desert
A community built to disappear
Kayenta has been building since 1979 on one stubborn idea: the desert is the architecture, and the houses are guests. Homes sit low and earth-toned against the base of Red Mountain, and the roads wind instead of running in a grid. At night there is not a single streetlight anywhere on 2,000 acres, so from most front doors the nearest thing that glows is the sky.
The middle of the community holds something no other Utah neighborhood can claim: the Coyote Gulch Art Village. It is a working cluster of galleries and studios with a cafe and a performing-arts venue, close enough that many residents walk or ride to it on the community paths. Mornings out here are coffee at Xetava and a gallery that just changed its walls, and evenings are the light show Red Mountain puts on for free.
The downside is distance, and it is on purpose. Groceries, the hospital, and the freeway are all a real drive east. The design rules that keep this place looking like the desert will also review your remodel plans. Kayenta asks more of you than a subdivision from a big builder that repeats a few plans. The people who live here consider that the entire point.
Villages inside
One desert, many villages
Kayenta is not one plat. It is a 2,000-acre master plan that has filled in village by village for four decades. Most of the villages carry names drawn from Hopi and other Native American languages. They differ in age, lot size, and view, which is why a home that fits you in Kwavasa is not the home that fits you in Taviawk. Here are the villages buyers ask about most. Every one of them feeds the single Kayenta search above.
Village 01
Taviawk
Taviawk, "setting sun," is the name that covers more of Kayenta than any other. It runs in numbered phases across the upper ground toward Red Mountain, and newer plats are still being recorded on Ivins City's planning maps. The higher ground has some of the community's best views, and the lower Taviawk streets trade the Hopi names for native plants: Yucca, Agave, Mallow, Penstemon, Cliffrose. If you are shopping the top of the Kayenta market, this is usually where the conversation starts.
Village 02
Kwavasa
Kwavasa, "eagle's landing," is one of the established villages. It has larger lots and desert landscaping that has had decades to grow back around the homes. The custom homes here tend to sit deep on their lots, behind untouched rock and brush, which is exactly what the community's design rules intend. Homes here sell rarely, a few listings in a typical year, so when a Kwavasa home lists, the buyers who have been waiting already know it.
Village 03
Posovi
Posovi, "canyon corners," sits closest to the heart of the community, effectively next door to the Art Village. The galleries, Xetava's patio, and the community paths are all an easy walk away, and homes come up for sale on the MLS more steadily here than in most villages. If you want Kayenta for the art-village life as much as the desert, this is the village that gives it to you on foot.
Village 04
Shonto Point
Shonto, "sunshine springs," names the point where the community steps up and the views open. You get long looks across the desert floor toward Snow Canyon's walls one way and the valley the other. Homes here sit at the edge on purpose, and they cost more for the view. Some buyers tell me they want the Kayenta photograph, the one with a low house and a hundred miles of evening light. This is usually the ground they mean.
Village 05
Willow Springs
Willow Springs holds the community's southeastern corner, and its street signs read Sage, Indigo, and Wisteria, which are native plants instead of Hopi words. It is the tucked-away end of Kayenta, with the same design rules and the same dark sky. It sits a little farther from the Art Village bustle and a little closer to the Santa Clara River Reserve trailheads. A handful of homes sell here in a typical year, and they tend to go to people who wanted exactly this corner.
Plat and MLS names inside Kayenta vary at the edges, and smaller village names show up on county maps as new phases record. Many come from the same Hopi dictionaries as the street names, such as tuweap for earth and shinava for coyote. Do not let the map scare you: every village feeds the one Kayenta search above, and I'll tell you plainly which village a listing actually sits in.
The Art Village
An art colony where the clubhouse would be
Most master plans put a clubhouse at the center. Kayenta put the Coyote Gulch Art Village there instead: a small, walkable cluster of working galleries and studios, built in the same low desert style as the homes around it. Xetava holds the patio, and the Center for the Arts at Kayenta stages theater, music, and film through the year. The village has been growing for decades, and it works as the community's living room.
On a Saturday you can walk the galleries, sit through a rehearsal, and wander the Desert Rose Labyrinth and the sculpture installations on the paths, and never move your car. The annual art festival each fall fills the village with artists and visitors from across the region. The events calendar, not an amenity brochure, is what shapes the year out here.
Center for the Arts at Kayenta
A professional performing-arts venue in the village core, with theater, concerts, film, and community events all year.
Galleries & studios
Working galleries and artist studios, not gift shops. The shows change from time to time, and the annual fall art festival fills the village.
Xetava
The community gathering spot, with coffee and meals on a desert-garden patio. Rusted Cactus, run by the same owners, serves shared plates at dinner at the same address. Both are a short walk or ride from most of the villages.
Gallery hours and event schedules change with the seasons. Check the Kayenta arts calendars for what is current before you plan a visit.
Kayenta highlights
Six things no other neighborhood offers
Every planned community claims to be different, but Kayenta can prove it with six specifics: the acreage and its open borders, the art village at the center, the dark sky, the design rules, the trails from the front door, and homes where no two are the same build.
2,000 acres, 80% open borders
The community runs roughly three miles by two, and more than 80 percent of its edges back to open space, so the desert you buy into stays the desert you look at.
The Coyote Gulch Art Village
Galleries, studios, Xetava, and the Center for the Arts sit at the community's core. It is a working arts district where other master plans put a pool.
No streetlights, on purpose
Kayenta never installed them, so nights here are truly dark and the Milky Way is a regular sight. The community guards that darkness as carefully as its views.
Design rules that have lasted
Low profiles, earth tones, native landscaping. The rules that shaped the first homes in 1979 still cover the newest builds, which is why the community looks like one place.
Trails from the front door
Community paths link the villages to the Art Village, and the Santa Clara River Reserve trailheads sit minutes away, including the Anasazi Valley trail with its petroglyphs (rock carvings).
One-of-a-kind homes
Four decades of custom builds means no repeated floor plans, and few homes sell in a year. The right Kayenta home is worth waiting for.
Homes & lots
Custom, one at a time, since 1979
The homes in Kayenta are what four decades of one-at-a-time building produce: adobe-influenced and desert-contemporary custom homes. Almost all of them keep a low single-level profile, because the design rules keep rooflines low enough to stay out of the views. Interiors run from 1980s southwestern classics to brand-new architectural builds, so the year built matters as much here as the square footage.
Two kinds of homes sell under the one name. In Washington County MLS records, finished homes have generally sold from the low $600,000s to well over $1.5 million. View lots on Taviawk's higher ground and the point lots at Shonto sell at the top of that range. Building lots are the second kind, and they are priced differently. The view matters, and so does where on the lot the rules let you build and where the utility lines run. These matter more than raw acreage. Plenty of Kayenta owners started as lot buyers who circled the community for a year first.
Look at every listing in light of its village and its era. A 1980s original with honest bones, a 2000s custom, and a new architectural build can sit within a half mile of each other. Each one still belongs to a different price range. Check everything against the live listings. In a market this small, the three most recent sales are the market.
In Kayenta the design rules are not a limit on what you are buying. They are what you are buying.
Trails & outdoors
Out the door, into the reserve
Kayenta sits on the west side, so it is closer to raw desert than any other Ivins community. Paths thread through the villages themselves, the Santa Clara River Reserve starts essentially next door, and Red Mountain fills the northern sky. Here they are, from an easy walk to a day out.
Community paths (easy)
Walking paths link the villages to the Art Village and out toward the desert edges. The Desert Rose Labyrinth and sculpture installations are along the way.
Santa Clara River Reserve (easy to moderate)
The Anasazi Valley trailhead off Old Highway 91 is about four minutes away. You will find petroglyph panels, Cove Wash, and miles of desert singletrack (narrow one-person bike and hiking trails) through the 6,500-acre reserve.
Red Mountain (hard)
Red Mountain is the wall above the community. Routes onto the plateau are a real climb, and at the top you get a long look back over all 2,000 acres and over the valley beyond it.
Snow Canyon State Park (all levels)
The entrance is about ten minutes away. Inside are Jenny's Canyon, the Petrified Dunes, the lava-tube caves, and the paved Whiptail trail through the sandstone.
Farther out, Gunlock State Park is roughly twenty minutes up Old Highway 91, and Zion National Park is about an hour east. The wider outdoor picture for the area lives in the Ivins guide.
Trail details come from Utah State Parks, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management, the federal land agency), and the Santa Clara River Reserve. Check seasonal access and conditions before you go.
Errands & drive times
The distance on purpose, in minutes
The art village and the trailheads are at the door, and everything with a cash register is a drive east. Times are measured from the Kayenta Art Village at the center of the community. From the outer villages, add a few minutes.
| The errand | Where it happens | From the Art Village |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee and a gallery | Coyote Gulch Art Village, Xetava | In the community |
| Trailhead | Anasazi Valley, Santa Clara River Reserve | ~4 min |
| Full grocery run | Harmons, Santa Clara | ~11 min |
| Town errands | Ivins City Center, 55 N Main | ~7 min |
| A night out | Tuacahn Center for the Arts | ~7 min |
| State park day | Snow Canyon State Park entrance | ~10 min |
| Healthcare | St. George Regional Hospital | ~20 min |
| Freeway on-ramp | I-15 at Bluff Street, St. George | ~18 min |
| Flights | St. George Regional Airport (SGU) | ~30 min |
Farther out, Gunlock State Park is about twenty minutes northwest, Zion National Park is roughly an hour east, and Las Vegas is about two hours southwest. The full day-trip map lives in the Ivins guide.
Schools & education
Schools, by the facts
Kayenta is part of the Washington County School District, and the community is generally served by Red Mountain Elementary (grades K-5) in Ivins at 263 East 200 South. Students then go on to Lava Ridge Intermediate (grades 6-7) in Santa Clara. After that come Snow Canyon Middle (grades 8-9) and Snow Canyon High (grades 10-12), both in St. George. Most of Ivins is served by the same schools in the same order.
Boundaries can shift as Ivins and Santa Clara grow, so for any home you are serious about, ask the district for the current school assignment. Do not guess from a map. For outside school data, GreatSchools and Niche both publish numbers you can weigh yourself.
I cover the bigger education picture for the area in the Ivins guide.
The design rules
What the rules buy you after dark
Since 1979 the community has held every build to the same standard. Keep the profile low and generally single-level, keep the colors in the earth tones the rock wears, and keep the landscaping native. Keep the night unlit too, with no streetlights and shielded outdoor lights. No other part of Ivins has rules like these, and buyers deserve the plain version of what they mean.
Here is what that buys you. Your view is protected because the house below you cannot stand up into it, and your night sky stays dark because floodlights are not up for debate. Your resale value rests on a look the whole community keeps up together, which is a large part of why Kayenta homes cost more than the rest of Ivins. Forty-five years in, the oldest streets and the newest plats still look like one place. Almost no development anywhere can say that.
What it asks of you: remodels, additions, and new homes get reviewed against the rules before work starts. That means a project here carries an approval step and a timeline that a standard subdivision does not. Some buyers want a two-story great room or a bright-lit sport court. They should hear it straight: this is not the community for that, and the community is fine with it.
What I check before you buy or build under the rules
- The current design guidelines for the specific village and lot. The standards are applied parcel by parcel, and they change over time.
- Where on the lot you can build, if you are buying a lot: how low, how wide, and how much of the natural rock and brush must stay untouched.
- Any unapproved changes by a prior owner. Surprises on record are cheaper to find before closing than after.
- Your own plans, honestly. If the home you actually want fights these rules, I will point you to the Ivins neighborhoods that welcome it instead.
This is general guidance. It is not a review decision or a legal reading of the community's governing documents. Before you rely on it, check the current requirements for your property or project. Ask the community and your own professionals.
What locals know
The details I would slow down and check
You are buying a set of rules, a village, an era, and a very dark night. Here are the four things I would walk a friend through before they get attached to any one address out here.
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The rules are the value. Homes here cost more than the rest of Ivins, and it is not the stucco you are paying for. It is the protected views and the rules that are truly enforced. Buy here because you want the rules, not despite them.
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Look at sales inside the village. A Taviawk home on the high ground, a Kwavasa original, and a Posovi walk-to-the-galleries home are priced as three different kinds of home, even under one community name.
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The dark is real. No streetlights means exactly that, so visit at night before you buy. Some buyers find the dark romantic, and others find it truly too dark to live with.
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Plan for the drives. The Art Village covers coffee and culture, but the grocery run is ~11 minutes to Santa Clara and the hospital is ~20. Drive it at your real hours before you commit.
Buy or sell here
The buyer side and the seller side
Buying in Kayenta
Kayenta covers roughly 2,000 acres of western Ivins. It runs along the base of Red Mountain, between the Santa Clara River Reserve and the south end of Snow Canyon, and the villages sit off Old Highway 91 and Kayenta Parkway. The Coyote Gulch Art Village is near the center of the community, and more than 80 percent of the borders back to open space.
Three things set it apart, and they work together. First, design rules keep every home low and earth-toned, in the colors of the rock. Second, there are no streetlights, which keeps the night sky truly dark. Third, the Coyote Gulch Art Village is a working cluster of galleries, a cafe, and a performing-arts venue at the heart of the community. No other neighborhood in Washington County is built this way.
Kayenta is organized as villages rather than one plat (the recorded map of the lots), and most of the villages carry Hopi-derived names. Taviawk, Kwavasa, Posovi, Shonto Point, and Willow Springs are the ones buyers see most often. MLS and county plat names vary at the edges, but every village feeds the same Kayenta search on this page. You will not miss a listing by not knowing the map yet.
In Washington County MLS records, resales have generally run from the low $600,000s to over $1.5 million. View lots on the higher ground and larger custom homes are at the top of that range, and building lots sell as their own market. Every home is a one-of-a-kind custom, so treat any range as a starting point and check it against the live listings. For a citywide number, my 2025 market report puts the Ivins median sale price at $721,500.
Kayenta is part of the Washington County School District, and it is generally served by Red Mountain Elementary (grades K-5) in Ivins. Students then go on to Lava Ridge Intermediate (grades 6-7) in Santa Clara. After that come Snow Canyon Middle (grades 8-9) and Snow Canyon High (grades 10-12), both in St. George. Boundaries can shift as Ivins and Santa Clara grow, so for any home you are serious about, ask the district for the current school assignment.
They exist to keep the community looking like desert rather than a subdivision. The rules call for single-level profiles that stay below the ridgelines, earth-tone exteriors, native landscaping, and no streetlights. For a buyer, the result is protected views and dark skies. For an owner, build and remodel plans are reviewed against those rules before work starts, so budget time for that step.
Ready to look? See what is on the market or tell me what you are after.
Selling in Kayenta
Price your home against sales inside the community, and inside your village. A Taviawk home on the high ground, with a protected Red Mountain view, does not price off a tucked Willow Springs street. Nothing outside Kayenta is really a fair match for either. The design rules are part of your value, and the right buyer pays for what they protect.
When you list with me, your home is featured on MovingUtah where it fits best. It shows first on the Ivins listings and on this Kayenta page, where buyers are already looking. The get featured page explains how it works. If you are thinking about selling, I would be glad to talk it through with you.
I start with recent sales and live listings from the MLS inside Kayenta itself, village first. Then I adjust for the view, the lot, the build quality, and how the home sits against the design rules. Every home here is custom and few homes sell in a year, so the right three sales to compare matter far more than any neighborhood average.
Yes, but on a purchase I take one role only, never both. I can work as your real estate agent or as your lender, and the role is disclosed before we move forward.
Thinking about it? Start with your number or see how featuring works.
Keep exploring Ivins
Want a closer look at Kayenta?
Buying? I can pull what is for sale in Kayenta now, homes and lots. I will tell you honestly which village fits how you actually live, and what the design rules will mean for your plans. Selling? I will price and market your home against sales inside its own village, with the value those rules protect in mind. I will not compare it to the whole west side.
Selling in Kayenta
Want to sell your home in Kayenta? List it with Scott Buehler and get featured on Moving Utah.
I will not tell you I am the best agent, and I will not promise a price. You get honest pricing: I set it against sales inside your home's own village, weigh its era and its view, and count the value the design rules protect.