One of the most clicked on properties during the week was an estate at 47 View Street in Los Altos. Nothing new about that. We recently had a post on the strange phenomenon known as estate envy, where everyone likes to see the high-end properties on the market – the opulent ones that never have open house Sundays. But one thing that piqued my interest on this property was the price per square foot: $2,200. Wow, not something you see everyday. Of course, there aren’t too many $27,000,000 homes on the market either. But it got me thinking about the idea of price per square foot and what it means.
The $/sf is something I look at for every home I review. I usually only mention it if it seems unusually high or low. In this particular case, it means a very high-end home with all the amenities one could ever want (wine cave, theater, limestone terraces). While listed as a Julia Morgan-style home, at this price, I would want an actual Julia Morgan designed home. It’s also only on a one-acre parcel, which I realize doesn’t compute into the $/sf, but for $27 mil, I want at least 5 acres, don’t you? Ah, but I digress….
In reviewing the listings in the city in which this property is offered, Los Altos, I found that escalation of $/sf corresponded with escalation of list price: Obviously there were a few aberrations, such as the $5,250,000 home that went for $3,785/sf and the $15,500,000 home that went for $7,750/sf. By doing the same search and sort for properties in other Bay Area cities on Redfin, I found that pretty uniformly, the $/sf increases with the property value and size of the home, which corresponds to amenities offered. Location is the other big factor in $/sf. There is prestige in some locations, excellent schools in others, secluded canyons in others, all of which add up. So the more prestigious a city, the higher the average square foot.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is my rambling thought for the day.
Recent Sweet Digs Bay Area Posts
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Move-in Ready: In the Eye of the Beholder
Palo Alto: English Cottage Redux
San Carlos: Not a Perfect 10
Oakland: It’s All There But Is Something Missing?
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