San Mateo · Redwood City · San Francisco
Single-family
Prepared · Evidence observation dates are listed below.
Focus: Balanced overview
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Explore the full comparison, local research and history
What stands out
This is a comparison of published city evidence and investigation questions, not a city ranking or a forecast. Lower citywide prices do not establish undervaluation or affordability.
Redwood City’s median sale price is 14.9% higher than San Mateo’s, using San Mateo as the denominator. Window: 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30.
Different homes sell in each city. This does not establish a like-for-like premium, affordability or a negotiating discount.
Evidence 1Evidence 2San Francisco reports 14 days of median marketing time, compared with 11 in San Mateo. Window: 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30.
Different homes sell in each city. This does not establish a like-for-like premium, affordability or a negotiating discount.
Evidence 1Evidence 2
Modeled home-value and jobs/housing research has not yet been added for every chosen city. The market comparison remains available; inspect each city guide for transaction-price history.
At least one exact historical baseline is unavailable. Missing changes are not interpolated.
The evidence at a glance
Single-family transactions
| Measure | San Mateo2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30Rolling 3 monthsSource & definition | Redwood City2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30Rolling 3 monthsSource & definition | San Francisco2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30Rolling 3 monthsSource & definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $2,049,183 | $2,354,062 | $1,869,255 |
| Closed sales | 123 | 100 | 584 |
| Homes for sale at period end | 34 | 41 | 292 |
| Median marketing time (days) | 11 | 13 | 14 |
Inventory is a period-end count, not adjusted for city size. Median marketing time may describe homes going under contract rather than the homes in the closed-sale count; each source definition is retained below.
All-homes history
Separate modeled index · No shared month · The selected home type does not change this index. All selected cities and San Mateo County must share the exact month.
| Measure | San Mateo | Redwood City | San Francisco |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modeled typical value | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| 1-year change | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| 10-year change | Unavailable | Unavailable | Unavailable |
These are modeled typical values, not sold-home medians. Past growth does not establish future returns. Exact inputs, baseline dates and source locators ↓
Jobs and completed housing · different scopes and periods
Annual Q2 workplace jobs are not employed residents or households. Reported completed homes include replacement units and do not measure net additions. Do not divide these totals to infer a shortage.
- San Mateo
Jobs: unavailable for the selected latest period.
Reported completions · all housing types: 118 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 Evidence 1
- Redwood City
Jobs: unavailable for the selected latest period.
Reported completions · all housing types: 72 · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 Evidence 1
- San Francisco
Jobs: unavailable for the selected latest period.
Completed homes: unavailable for the selected latest period.
What to check in each city
San Mateo
Evidence
Closed sales: 123 homes. 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30. Evidence 1
Unanswered
City totals cannot establish the price, condition, access or exposure of a particular home. Test these questions at the address.
Next actions
Diligence questions, not established neighborhood facts:
- How do your finalist neighborhoods differ in access and housing type?
- What do recent comparable transactions show for the same type of home?
Retained research excerpt
San Mateo stayed close to the county’s growth over ten years. Its rail-corridor planning suggests a more specific research target than a citywide claim about amenities or employment access.
San Mateo: why a broad city average can hide the housing decision · Published 2026-09-15T03:07:18.442Z · Revision 2026-09-15T02:52:39.470Z
Current deep dive →Current reading may have changed since this excerpt was saved.
Redwood City
Evidence
Closed sales: 100 homes. 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30. Evidence 1
Unanswered
City totals cannot establish the price, condition, access or exposure of a particular home. Test these questions at the address.
Next actions
Diligence questions, not established neighborhood facts:
- Which completed improvements are useful from the candidate address?
- Does its price differ from comparable homes after matching size and location?
Retained research excerpt
Redwood City gained modestly against the county over a decade. Its downtown planning history makes it a useful case study, but timing alone cannot establish that development caused the gain.
Redwood City: did downtown investment cause the housing revaluation? · Published 2026-09-15T03:07:17.891Z · Revision 2026-09-15T02:52:39.115Z
Current deep dive →Current reading may have changed since this excerpt was saved.
San Francisco
Evidence
Closed sales: 584 homes. 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30. Evidence 1
Unanswered
City totals cannot establish the price, condition, access or exposure of a particular home. Test these questions at the address.
Next actions
Diligence questions, not established neighborhood facts:
Retained research excerpt
Two similar flats can involve different ownership and financing. Compare the documents, shared obligations and conversion evidence before relying on a lower asking price.
San Francisco condo vs TIC: what to check before comparing prices · Published 2026-10-29T16:12:52.851Z · Revision 2026-10-29T16:11:19.467Z
Current deep dive →Current reading may have changed since this excerpt was saved.
Go deeper
Full comparison → · Explore market history and ownership costs →
Model Lab carries these cities into market history, rent-or-buy scenarios and jobs/housing comparisons. Its separate experimental price forecasts use the all-homes index, including when this brief is for condos/co-ops. Choose the relevant home type in the lab.
Dates, definitions and sources
Preview content ID: c9ab7c7fe3da322dc9d1a259579b75b0b44096d7728ba4fc402a04a0e65ec9da.
Read the evidence manifest and limitations
Housing release: baseline-2026-09-14 · Structural release: 2026-09-15-completionreview · Template: shortlist-template-v2.
San Mateo · Single-family
Redfin Data Center · 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30 · Retrieved 2026-10-16 · Published date unavailable · Edition redfin-2026-09-san-mateo-single-family-20261016.
Redfin Data Center city boundaries; not seasonally adjusted; rolling three-month window. Median price and sales count use closed sales by closing date. Inventory counts homes for sale on the last day, excluding listings older than one year; it is not all listings active during the window. Median days on market uses homes going under contract during the window, from listing to contract, excluding listings older than one year. Property types remain separate. Price-reduction share is unavailable in this extract.
Redwood City · Single-family
Redfin Data Center · 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30 · Retrieved 2026-10-16 · Published date unavailable · Edition redfin-2026-09-redwood-city-single-family-20261016.
Redfin Data Center city boundaries; not seasonally adjusted; rolling three-month window. Median price and sales count use closed sales by closing date. Inventory counts homes for sale on the last day, excluding listings older than one year; it is not all listings active during the window. Median days on market uses homes going under contract during the window, from listing to contract, excluding listings older than one year. Property types remain separate. Price-reduction share is unavailable in this extract.
San Francisco · Single-family
Redfin Data Center · 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30 · Retrieved 2026-10-16 · Published date unavailable · Edition redfin-2026-09-san-francisco-single-family-20261016.
Redfin Data Center city boundaries; not seasonally adjusted; rolling three-month window. Median price and sales count use closed sales by closing date. Inventory counts homes for sale on the last day, excluding listings older than one year; it is not all listings active during the window. Median days on market uses homes going under contract during the window, from listing to contract, excluding listings older than one year. Property types remain separate. Price-reduction share is unavailable in this extract.
Housing Element APR Table A2, San Mateo County jurisdictions
California HCD / reporting cities source · Retrieved 2026-09-15T14:47:32.411921Z · Published date unavailable · Methodology
CNTY_NAME=San Mateo; JURIS_NAME and YEAR; NO_OTHER_FORMS_OF_READINESS, CO_ISSUE_DT1 and CO income fields
Exact observations used
- Redwood City · housing_completions: 72 units; 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Source · JURIS_NAME=REDWOOD CITY; YEAR=2025; sum NO_OTHER_FORMS_OF_READINESS; coverage.json
- San Mateo · housing_completions: 118 units; 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Source · JURIS_NAME=SAN MATEO; YEAR=2025; sum NO_OTHER_FORMS_OF_READINESS; coverage.json
History calculations
- San Mateo · 1-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
- San Mateo · 10-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
- Redwood City · 1-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
- Redwood City · 10-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
- San Francisco · 1-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
- San Francisco · 10-year change: Unavailable to Unavailable; (end / exact-baseline - 1) * 100; Unavailable.
Limits of this brief
- This is a comparison of published city evidence and investigation questions, not a city ranking or a forecast. Lower citywide prices do not establish undervaluation or affordability.
- Transaction medians reflect homes sold in the stated window. All-homes history is a separate modeled index, smoothed and seasonally adjusted. Exact shared dates and baselines are required; null means unavailable and zero remains zero.
- Small or missing sales counts are shown beside the values. The latest published evidence can be older than today's brief; age notices use the actual market period end.
- Jobs are annual Q2 beginning-of-quarter workplace snapshots, not employed residents, unique workers or an annual average.
- LODES 8.4 all jobs: one California release, 2020 blocks, 2024 place boundaries; 2012–2023.
- Completions are self-reported certificates of occupancy or other readiness, all housing types; 2018–2025. They include replacement units and do not measure net additions or actual occupancy.
- Eight date-conflict city-years are reconciled to original city current-year summaries. Original unfiltered HCD totals remain in reportedUnits; acceptedUnits supplies the chart. San Bruno 2020 and South San Francisco 2024 remain withheld. Audit records retain all positive row IDs and source decisions; no excluded units are reassigned to another year.
- County jobs cover the entire county. No county completion total is provided; the HCD county jurisdiction covers only unincorporated territory.
- Current revised data cannot establish what was known historically. No new predictive rule or forecast is implied.
San Mateo reading sources: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
Redwood City reading sources: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
San Francisco reading sources: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 Source 5