Six cities, one month of closed sales. Here is how the mid-Peninsula single-family market looked in May 2026, pulled straight from MLSListings. I read these reports the way I used to read dashboards — looking for the number that contradicts the headline.
The one-line version
Prices held firm to higher almost everywhere, homes still sold fast, and buyers kept paying over ask. Of the six cities, five posted higher median sale prices than a year ago. Every market closed above list price.
The numbers
| City | Median Sale Price | Homes Sold | Median Days on Market | % of List Received | $/Sq Ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belmont | $2.61M | 16 | 14 | 107% | $1,297 |
| Burlingame | $3.33M | 22 | 9 | 109% | $1,542 |
| Menlo Park | $3.95M | 30 | 11 | 105% | $1,700 |
| Palo Alto | $4.20M | 55 | 8 | 108% | $2,305 |
| Redwood City | $2.40M | 41 | 11 | 107% | $1,298 |
| San Mateo | $2.19M | 60 | 11 | 110% | $1,331 |
What stands out
Everything sold over asking. The “% of list received” column never dipped below 105%. San Mateo led at 110%, with Burlingame close behind at 109%. In plain terms: the list price is a starting line, not a ceiling. If you are buying, budget for the premium; if you are selling, price to invite competition rather than to capture the last dollar up front.
Speed has not let up. Palo Alto’s median home went pending in eight days. Burlingame took nine. Even the “slowest” city here, Belmont at 14 days, is fast by any normal standard. Well-prepared, well-priced homes are still moving in under two weeks.
Year-over-year, the trend is up. Compared with May 2025, Menlo Park rose the most — roughly 16% (from $3.4 million to $3.95 million) — followed by Belmont near 13% and Burlingame around 9%. Palo Alto and Redwood City posted smaller single-digit gains. San Mateo was the one exception, down about 3% from a year ago ($2.25 million to $2.19 million).
Price per square foot tells the quality story. Palo Alto stands alone at $2,305 per square foot, well above Menlo Park’s $1,700. The entry tier — San Mateo, Belmont, and Redwood City — clusters tightly between roughly $1,300 and $1,330. That spread is a useful map if you are weighing how far your budget stretches across city lines.
A note on small samples
A few of these cities closed only a handful of homes in May — Belmont recorded 16 sales, Burlingame 22. With counts that low, a couple of unusual transactions can swing a median noticeably. Treat one month as a data point, not a verdict. The year-over-year direction is the more reliable signal.
Numbers tell you what happened. They do not tell you whether it was the right house. That part is still a conversation.
If you want to know what these trends mean for a specific street, price band, or timeline, that is exactly the kind of question I like to dig into. Reach out and we will look at your situation with the same data lens.
Data from MLSListings, produced 06/03/2026. Single-family homes only. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
