Homeview/Sterling Downs

Belmont’s “first” neighborhood has undergone almost a complete sea change since the days of “Angelo’s Corners,” the general store/roadhouse founded by Charles Aubrey Angelo at the corner of Ralston Avenue and the Old County Road in 1850. Most of original Homeview (bordered by Redwood Shores, San Carlos, El Camino Real, and Steinberger Slough and actually containing two neighborhoods, Homeview and Sterling Downs) is long gone, replaced by small neighborhoods of neat, post-war single-family cottages, light industry, and warehouses and, at its northeast corner, the Belmont Sports Complex.

Homeview’s residential real estate is located in two neighborhoods on either side of Ralston Avenue, Sterling Downs (north of Ralston) and Homeview (south of Ralston). The neighborhoods are similar – entry-level properties with two and three bedrooms on smaller (4,000-5,000 square feet) lots, boasting proximity to both Highway 101 and the Belmont Caltrain station. Homeview (south of Ralston) is comprised of six cul-de-sac streets abutting the warehouses of Old County Road, while Sterling Downs’ layout is less gridded.

Homeview’s two neighborhoods are well maintained and include a few mid-rise apartment buildings. They’re at the entry-level of Belmont’s real estate market, with some single-family residences still available for a little over $1.38 million. For the past few years, however, Homeview listings have been selling for significantly more than their asking prices, reflecting a Bay Area-wide demand for entry-level real estate. It is not unusual, in 2021, for Homeview properties to close escrow for totals nearing $1.86 million. For the first few months of the year, the neighborhood’s median home value was $1.59 million.

Homeview residents are likely to be younger (neighborhood median age: 35.2 versus 38.8 citywide) and unmarried (43.1 percent versus 53.6 percent citywide) than other Belmont residents. 22 percent of neighborhood residents have children, a figure slightly higher than that of the city as a whole (21.7 percent). The local K-6 public school is Nesbit Elementary, which scores a seven out of 10 on Greatschools.net and notched an API score of 845 for the 2011-2012 school year. Students then move on to Ralston Middle School and Carlmont High School.

Homeview (and Sterling Downs), like parts of neighboring Carlmont, is the least “Belmont” of Belmont’s neighborhoods. Its streets do not wind lazily up and down hillsides, its homes were not built during Belmont’s growth boom of the 1960s, 70s and 80s and it doesn’t offer sweeping views of canyons and/or San Francisco Bay. What it does offer, though, is accessibility – both to commute options and to home ownership for entry-level buyers.