The September edition of the county market report landed this week, which means we finally have August on paper. Here is what eight Peninsula cities actually did.
The one-line version
The market loosened and the competition did not. Inventory rose in seven of these eight cities and homes took longer to sell in six of them — and all eight single-family markets still closed above asking. Condos went the other direction: more time, more supply, and prices landing under list almost everywhere.
Single-family homes
Listed north to south, Daly City down to Redwood City.
| City | Median Sale Price | Sold | Months of Inventory | Sale vs. List | Avg Days on Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daly City | $1.1M | 29 | 1.2 | 107.2% | 25 |
| Millbrae | $1.7M | 9 | 1.3 | 114.3% | 8 |
| Burlingame | $3.1M | 13 | 1.3 | 111.8% | 10 |
| San Mateo | $2.1M | 32 | 1.0 | 109.5% | 26 |
| Foster City | $2.0M | 11 | 0.8 | 104.0% | 18 |
| Belmont | $2.6M | 14 | 1.6 | 106.3% | 28 |
| San Carlos | $2.8M | 15 | 1.2 | 107.1% | 20 |
| Redwood City | $2.25M | 25 | 1.8 | 107.9% | 23 |
Every city closed over asking. The sale-vs.-list column never dropped below 104%. Millbrae led at 114.3%, Burlingame at 111.8%, San Mateo at 109.5%. Countywide, single-family homes closed at 106.9% of list on 328 sales — so six of these eight cities ran hotter than the county average.
Inventory rose almost everywhere. Compared with July, months of supply went up in seven of the eight: Burlingame and Millbrae roughly doubled, Redwood City moved from 1.0 to 1.8, San Mateo from 0.7 to 1.0. Anything under about two months still favors sellers, so none of these markets actually crossed over — they just stopped being airless.
Foster City went the other way. It was the loose one in July at 2.3 months on seven closings. In August it took eight new listings, sold 11 homes, and finished at 0.8 months — the tightest supply in the group. Average days on market fell from 28 to 18. One month does not make a trend, but that is a real reversal.
Homes sat longer, and it did not cost sellers anything. Six of the eight took more days on market than in July — San Mateo nearly doubled from 14 to 26, Belmont went 19 to 28, San Carlos 13 to 20. And in most of those same cities the overbid went up. More time on market is not the same as less demand. It usually means more homes to see before buyers commit to one.
Condos and townhomes
| City | Median Sale Price | Sold | Months of Inventory | Sale vs. List | Avg Days on Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daly City | $624K | 4 | 3.8 | 97.3% | 52 |
| Millbrae | $772K | 2 | 4.5 | 96.6% | 52 |
| Burlingame | $950K | 7 | 1.6 | 103.4% | 40 |
| San Mateo | $840K | 19 | 3.8 | 101.6% | 55 |
| Foster City | $1.1M | 13 | 1.2 | 98.3% | 52 |
| Belmont | $1.0M | 5 | 2.8 | 98.7% | 29 |
| San Carlos | $1.17M | 2 | 7.0 | 97.8% | 9 |
| Redwood City | $903K | 11 | 2.7 | 97.6% | 67 |
Two markets, still. Countywide, condos and townhomes closed at 99.4% of list against single-family’s 106.9%, with 2.4 months of inventory against 1.5. That seven-and-a-half-point gap is the clearest dividing line in the report.
The waiting got longer. Redwood City condos averaged 67 days. San Mateo 55. Foster City, Millbrae, and Daly City all sat at 52. In July, Redwood City, San Mateo, Foster City, and Millbrae were all running in the thirties and forties. If you are a buyer who wants time to think, this is where it exists.
Two exceptions worth naming. San Mateo condos crossed over the line, closing at 101.6% after finishing under list in July — on 19 sales, the largest condo sample in the group. Burlingame held at 103.4%. Everywhere else, buyers negotiated.
San Carlos is the outlier. Seven months of condo inventory, the most in the set — on two closings. Read that as thin data, not as a collapse.
What it means, depending on where you stand
Buying single-family. You have more to look at than you did in July and more time to look at it. You do not have more leverage on the good ones. Budget for the premium, and do not let a home that has been sitting three weeks convince you the list price is the ceiling — in four of these cities homes took longer to sell than they did in July and still closed at a higher premium.
Buying a condo or townhome. This is where negotiating is actually possible, in most of these cities. Longer days on market and two to four months of supply mean you can ask for repairs, credits, or a price, and expect an answer rather than a counter-offer deadline.
Selling. Preparation is doing more work than pricing right now. The spread between a well-prepared home and an average one is wider than the spread between cities. Price to invite competition and put the money into getting the house ready.
A note on small samples
Look at the sold column before you read anything into a median. Millbrae’s $1.7 million rests on nine single-family sales, San Carlos’s $2.8 million on 15, and the Millbrae and San Carlos condo medians on two apiece. At counts like that, a median tells you which houses happened to close, not what happened to value. Sale-to-list and days on market hold up better month to month, which is why I lead with them.
Numbers tell you what the month did. They do not tell you whether it was the right house. That part is still a conversation.
If you want to know what this means for a specific street, price band, or timeline — the level where these decisions actually get made — tell me which city is yours and I will pull the comparable sales that matter for your block. Call or text me at 650-866-9266.
Figures from the KW Advisors San Mateo County Market Report, September 2026 edition (August 2026 activity), sourced from MLS Listings Inc., InfoSparks, and Trend Graphix. July comparisons from the July report. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
