Communities
San Mateo
Diverse. Great parks. Centrally located.
San Mateo has it all: a diversity of neighborhoods, great parks, easy access, a plethora of shopping, and home to many businesses and an anchor for employment on the peninsula. With a rich heritage, dating back to the turn of the century with its most famous resident being A.P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy and later Bank of America, San Mateo offers a delightful spread of activity for all. The downtown area is studded with delicious restaurants and a variety of retail stores, and also boasts a 12 screen movie theatre and one of the largest wine cellars in the country, at Draeger’s Grocery Store. Shopping abounds at Hillsdale and Bridgepointe as well as the many neighborhood shopping centers.
Perhaps the most well known natural area is Coyote Point, a rock outcropped peninsula that juts into San Francisco Bay and home to a natural history museum, the Peninsula Humane Society, windsurfing, a private marina, and large picnic areas with uplifting vistas. Within walking distance of downtown, Central Park has something for everyone: ride the toy train, pick up a game of tennis, take a serene walk through the Japanese Garden, have a picnic while listening to Thursday evening’s Jazz in the Park, or enjoy the playgrounds.
San Mateo attracts a variety of homeowners, from those seeking their first home in the upcoming neighborhoods of the Village, Parkside, or Shoreview, to those looking for more a little more space in Hillsdale or the Meadows, to larger families seeking the spaciousness offered by San Mateo Park, Baywood, and Aragon.
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98,391
Population
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19,200
Homes
-
1.3m - 6m+
Price Range
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$1.83M
Median Sale Price
-
$2.05M
Average Sale Price
Pricing data based on single-family homes
Key features
- Small town feel
- Big-city downtown amenities with a small town residential neighborhood feel
- Diverse housing
- Very diverse housing opportunities ranging from downtown condos to suburban ranches and secluded San Mateo Park mansions
- Top schools
- Baywood schools ranked among the state’s best
- Great parks
- Unsurpassed hiking and recreation at Laurelwood Park, plus San Mateo's famous Central Park and Japanese Tea Garden
- Easy access
- Easy proximity to Silicon Valley and San Francisco
On this page
San Mateo
Stats & Trends
Sales Prices
Raziel's Commentary
San Mateo’s diverse collection of real estate protected it — to a degree — from the wild fluctuations of local real estate in 2022 but it still entered 2023 on a downward price trend. For the year, the Peninsula’s largest city posted an average home price of $2.2 million, an increase of 9% from 2021, and a median of $2 million, also 9% above its 2021 level. Average prices peaked in April at $2.66 million (up 34% year-over-year) and showed year-over-year gains in each of the first six months of the year, plus August and December (2%). However, despite San Mateo’s yearly average of $2.2 million, local real estate prices landed under $2 million in each of 2022’s final four months (final six months for median) and have stayed there into 2023.
Sales Prices for single-family homes in San Mateo
2023 YTD Average
$2.04M
8.2%
2022 Average
$2.22M
10.2%
2023 YTD Median
$1.83M
8.8%
2022 Median
$2M
9%
2022 HOME SALES BY PRICE RANGE
Raziel's Commentary
San Mateo buyers gravitated toward higher points on the price range scale in 2022, leaving the sub-$1 million point almost entirely behind and increasing the $2.5 million-and-up range’s market share by 10%. Almost 30% of San Mateo buyers paid more than $2.5 million for their home in 2022. Meanwhile, less than 50% paid $2 million or less last year, compared to the 60% who did so two years ago. Buyers paying between $2 million and $2.5 million for their property remained about the same at 20.4%.
| Beds Bedrooms | 1M - 1.5M | 1.5M - 2M | 2M - 2.5M | 2.5M - 3M | Over 3M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2 |
32 | 28 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
|
3 |
60 | 97 | 57 | 42 | 13 |
|
4 |
6 | 24 | 38 | 27 | 38 |
|
5 |
0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
|
6 |
0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 98 | 153 | 106 | 78 | 66 |
2022 HOME SALES BY PRICE RANGE for single-family homes in San Mateo
1M - 1.5M
17%
1.5M - 2M
27%
2M - 2.5M
18%
2.5M - 3M
14%
Sale Price to List Price Ratio
Raziel's Commentary
San Mateo is the rare Peninsula city whose average sale price to list price ratio never dropped below 100% in 2022. For the year, San Mateo buyers paid an average of 109% of asking price, 1% less than in 2021 and, similarly to all of its neighbors, paid a higher average during the first few months of the year. Between June and the end of the year sale price to list price ratio fell by an average of 8.1% month-over-month, and between August and December never rose above 101% or fell below 100%. However, so far in 2023 the average has dipped into the high 90s.
Sale Price to List Price Ratio for single-family homes in San Mateo
2023 YTD
102.3%
5.1%
2022
107.8%
1.8%
Number of Home Sales
Number of Home Sales for single-family homes in San Mateo
2023 YTD
218
55.1%
2022
486
35.6%
2021 Home Sales by Neighborhood
2021 Home Sales by Neighborhood for single-family homes in San Mateo
Shoreview
50
sales
San Mateo Terrace/Beresford
41
sales
Westwood Knolls
34
sales
Average Days on Market
Average Days on Market for single-family homes in San Mateo
2023 YTD
20
days
25%
2022
16
days
6.7%
San Mateo Neighborhoods
Aragon
Aragon, along with San Mateo Park and Baywood, is one of San Mateo’s most desirable neighborhoods. Comprised of tree-lined streets and large, well-built pre-war homes,...
Bay Meadows/Fiesta Gardens
Bay Meadows was part of Bay Meadows Racetrack, the longest-running thoroughbred horse racing track in California. With the new development, Bay Meadows has grown into a...
Baywood
Baywood is one of San Mateo’s most prestigious and sought after neighborhoods, with top-notch schools and a cosmopolitan flair. Nearly ever street in Baywood is filled with...
Baywood Park/Enchanted Hills
Baywood Park is a large (3/4 of a mile square), in parts heavily wooded neighborhood whose population density is a third that of San Mateo as a whole. It is a narrow...
Beresford Manor
Neighborhoods established before World War II are more organic than those built afterward. They tend to echo the small towns they may have once been prior to annexation by...
Eastern Addition
Eastern Addition real estate mirrors that of its southern neighbor, Bowie Estate, in that it is comprised of a collection of housing styles from many eras. Because...
Edgewater Isle
Though it appears in almost every way to be part of Foster City, Edgewater Isle has a San Mateo address. It lies just across Seal Slough from Mariner’s Lagoon/South...
Foothill Terrace
Foothill Terrace is a small, quiet neighborhood with rolling hills in northwest San Mateo bordering Baywood Knolls. It is a relatively more affordable alternative to...
Harbortown & Mariner's Isle
Mariner’s Island in an uncommon San Mateo neighborhood. Its layout, the age of its real estate, its waterfront location and its many commercial properties are...
Hayward Park
The Hayward Park neighborhood is characterized by tree-lined residential streets and is located within an easy walk to San Mateo’s vibrant downtown. Bordered by El Camino...
Hillsdale
The first of David Bohannon’s Hillsdale subdivisions, the Park Western Subdivision embodies a lifestyle adopted by thousands of San Mateoans in the years following World...
Homestead Husing
Homestead/Husing homes for sale have been commanding more attention lately, as homebuyers recognize the neighborhood as a cost-effective alternative to Aragon. It offers...
Lakeshore
Located south of the much-larger Shoreview neighborhood, Lakeshore is a humble collection of post-war homes and newer condominiums and apartments that fit snugly into the...
Laurelwood/Sugarloaf
One of San Mateo’s “newest” communities lies in its westernmost quadrant, near Highway 280 and north of the large, protected 225-acre open space after which it was named....
Lauriedale
But all is not multi-unit complexes in Lauriedale. Beginning in the mid-1970s, small developers began adding larger-than-average single-family homes to the district,...
Los Prados
The final piece of the “east of 101” puzzle is Los Prados, a small neighborhood located south of Lakeshore on San Mateo’s southeasternmost border whose character comes from...
Parkside
South of Van Buren Street is Parkside, a post-war neighborhood where single-family homes are slightly more expensive than their neighbors to the north. Here you’re more...
San Mateo Knolls
Laurel Creek Farms actually refers to a pair of San Mateo neighborhoods. East of Alameda de las Pulgas, Laurel Creek Farms is part of San Mateo Knolls; west of the Alameda,...
San Mateo Park
If Baywood and Aragon are San Mateo’s most popular neighborhoods, San Mateo Park its most exclusive. It was always meant to be the city’s premier neighborhood, from the...
San Mateo Terrace/Beresford
Tucked into a corner north of Hillsdale Boulevard and west of Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo Terrace is quiet, residential neighborhood whose bookends are Hillsdale High...
San Mateo Village
San Mateo Village includes the area between El Camino Real and the Bayshore Freeway, McClellan Avenue and East 40th Avenue. For decades, San Mateo Village real estate...
San Mateo Woods/Bayridge
West of the College of San Mateo, at the western end of Hillsdale Boulevard, is a small neighborhood whose character is dominated by a single townhome complex. Though San...
Shoreview
Arguably the most affordable single family home neighborhood in San Mateo, Shoreview real estate was always designed to appeal to San Mateo’s working class. The northern...
Sunnybrae/19th Avenue Park
Centrally located and offering great value, Sunnybrae is a quiet residential neighborhood, one of San Mateo’s first to fully embrace the post-war suburban-style ethos....
The Highlands
The Highlands is one of the most architecturally unique neighborhoods on the peninsula, featuring a collection of over 900 homes designed and built in the 1960s by the...
Westwood Knolls
Coming north on Alameda de las Pulgas, it’s not difficult to determine where Belmont ends and San Mateo begins. On a map, it’s just past La Casa Avenue; to your eyes and...
Woodlake
Originally all apartments, Woodlake became a “stock cooperative” several years after opening. In 1987, the entire building converted to condominium. Today, Woodlake’s 900...
Schools & History
History
Early San Mateo was a place of large estates and boldface names familiar to anyone who’s driven the town’s streets. Parrott, Hayward, Borel—these were the wealthy pioneers who sowed the seeds that eventually grew into today’s modern city of 100,000 residents. San Mateo was borne from their needs and later from their subdivided land, all around a stagecoach stop established in 1849 by Nicolas de Peyster on former Ohlone tribal land.
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