The Bay Area’s 10 Fastest-Appreciating Housing Markets: Q1 2018

A slim supply of homes for sale and vigorous buyer demand continued to drive home price growth in the Bay Area in the first quarter of this year. Of the nearly 70 Bay Area communities in which Pacific Union operates, only 13 saw home prices decrease from the first quarter of 2017.

To find out where home prices grew the fastest year over year in the first quarter of 2018, we dug into MLS data for single-family homes in individual Bay Area communities. Note that for the purposes of this analysis, only cities with at least five home sales in the most recently completed quarter have been included. Here are the top 10:

1. Atherton — up by 84.8 percent — Ranked as America’s most expensive place to buy a home in 2017 by Forbes, Atherton’s median sales price was $8.5 million in the first quarter, the highest in the past three years, and exorbitant even by Bay Area standards. The nine homes sold in the San Mateo County city ranged in price from $3.5 million to $11.5 million.
2. Menlo Park — up by 56.2 percent — Appreciation was also robust in Atherton’s neighboring city of Menlo Park, where the median sales price was $3.25 million, also the highest level recorded in the three years prior.
3. Los Altos Hills — up by 44.0 percent — Also ranked among the top three most expensive U.S. housing markets by Forbes, the median sales price in Los Altos Hills was $5.5 million in the first quarter.
4. Portola Valley — up by 40.1 percent — The median sales price in Portola Valley was $3.63 million in the first quarter, with only one home in the community selling for less than $1 million.
5. St. Helena — up by 40.0 percent — Homes in this Napa County city sold for a median price of $1.75 million, the highest level recorded over the past three years.
6. Woodside  — up by 31.6 percent — The median sales price in Woodside closed out the first quarter at $2.91 million, up significantly on an annual basis but still more than $1 million short of the peak recorded in the second quarter of 2016.
7. San Francisco District 4 — up by 30.7 percent — Homes in San Francisco‘s District 4 — which includes neighborhoods such as Diamond Heights, West Portal, and St. Francis Wood — had a median sales price of $1.86 million in the first quarter. None of the 50 homes that changed hands in that district sold for less than seven figures.
8. San Francisco District 9 — up by 25.5 percent — San Francisco’s District 9, which includes South of Market, the Mission, and Potrero Hill, posted a median price of $1.73 million in the first quarter. Only two of the 45 homes sold in District 9 sold for less than $1 million.
9. Burlingame — up by 25.0 percent — Burlingame‘s median sales price ended the first quarter at $2.5 million, with no home selling for less than $1.6 million.
10. Windsor — up by 23.0 percent — Homes in this northern Sonoma County city have been slowly but steadily rising over the past year, selling for a median price of $685,000 in the first quarter. The lowest single-family home sale in Windsor this year occurred in early March, for $375,000.