Palo Alto Unified Unified
Single-family · 4 bedrooms · Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto
As of Sun, Oct 4, 7:41 AM PT
Typical-size homes · 1,900–2,900 sqft · last 90 days to Oct 4 · 20 sales
a direction, but the evidence is not strong
Houseticker tracks 535 homes in this market; 171 sold in the last year.
How prices compare
4-bedroom houses · Past 12 months
For 1,900–2,900 sqft homes, homes sell for 18% more per square foot in the Palo Alto High School zone than in the Gunn High School zone.
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| Zone | Median $/sqft | Median sale | Typical lot | Sales counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto High School | $2,120 | $4.70M | 6,900 sqft | 40 |
| Gunn High School | $1,801 | $4.03M | 7,800 sqft | 42 |
School zones are from each district's published boundaries. Boundaries and enrollment rules change: confirm a home's school assignment with the district.
Price & competition read · September 2026
The 10% price gain shrinks once you account for what sold
After adjusting for what sold, prices for typical-size homes rose 7.5% against the same 90 days a year earlier, less than the 10% rise in the median, from $1,909 to $2,099 per square foot. The direction is up, but the evidence is not strong: 20 recent sales against 25 a year ago.
On the average the gap is wider. The average rose 13.8%, and 6.3 points of that reflect the mix of what sold, not a change in prices. The lots that sold explain 5.2 of those points, home size 1.1, and the zone shift pulled the other way by 0.6, as Gunn High School's share of sales went from 36% to 40%.
Comparable homes are closing at increasingly different prices per square foot
The middle half of typical-size sales, between the 25th and 75th percentile, ran from $2,005 to $2,676 per square foot this period. A year earlier the same band ran from $1,840 to $2,141. As a share of price, that spread widened from 15.8% to 32%.
The comparison rests on 20 recent sales against 25 a year ago, so the direction is wider but the evidence is not strong. For a buyer, a wider band means the median says less about where any one home trades; two similar homes can close far apart.
Generated automatically from listing and sale records, and it can make mistakes: check the numbers before relying on them, and confirm details with the listing agent and public records. For information only: not an appraisal, and not financial, legal or real estate advice.
How this market is changing
4-bedroom houses · 1,900–2,900 sqft homes · past 12 months
Typical-size homes sold for $2,111 per square foot over the latest 90 days, 10.2% higher than the same 90 days last year (19 and 31 sales).
Homes that went pending in the latest 90 days took about 8 days to do it (15 homes).
Price move explained
- Typical-size $/sqft, last 90 days
- $2,111 · ↑10.2% from a year ago
- After adjusting for what sold
- ↑6.8% from a year ago
What changed in the mix. This period's sales came with larger lots: a typical 7,800 sqft against 7,350 sqft a year earlier.
Houseticker read. Part of the headline change reflects the mix of homes that sold; comparable homes are selling for about 6.8% more than a year ago, though the evidence is not strong.
Based on 19 sales in the last 90 days and 31 in the same 90 days a year earlier. Adjusted for home size, lot size and school zone.
Are prices rising?
$2,111/sqft
10.2% above the same 90 days last year
The typical price per square foot 1,900–2,900 sqft homes sold for over the last 90 days, worked out again each month: 19 sales in the last 90 days, and 31 in the same 90 days last year. Our sales records start September 26, 2023. The bars count the sales that closed each month. The typical sale price over the last 90 days: $4.58M.
Each point covers 90 days, so neighboring points share sales: look at the direction over several months. A month with a short bar has few sales, and one unusual home can swing it.
How widely do similar homes sell?
$1,981–$2,676
the middle half of sales · 32.9% wide
The 25th to 75th percentile of typical-size homes' price per square foot over the last 90 days, worked out again each month, on 19 sales. The width is that range as a share of the median.
A narrower range means similar homes sell at more predictable prices; a wider one means more room either way.
What do homes sell for against asking?
10% over the first asking price
82% sold over asking
How the typical sale over the last 90 days compares with the home's first asking price: 17 sales whose asking price we know, and 2 we never saw advertised. Our sales records start September 26, 2023.
Above the dashed line, homes sell for more than they first asked. Against the last asking price before the sale, the typical sale was 10% over the last asking price (17 sales). We lead with the first ask: after a price cut, the last ask makes a sale look stronger than it was.
How many homes sell over their first ask?
82%
sold over asking, up 2 points from the previous 90 days
The share of sales over the last 90 days that closed above the home's first asking price, worked out again each month, on the 17 sales whose first asking price we saw.
A rising share means more homes draw more than one offer; the typical sale above can stay level while the share moves.
How fast do homes go pending?
8 days
about the same as the previous 90 days
The typical number of days from listing to pending over the last 90 days, for homes whose listing date we know: 15 in the last 90 days. Pendings before May 30, 2026 come from the histories of homes that later sold.
Fewer days means more competition. A home that went pending and fell through counts from its relisting.
Do I have more choices?
5 homes for sale
5 new listings in the last four weeks
Homes for sale on each Monday and listings that came on the market each week, tracked since May 30, 2026; 6 were already for sale then and are not counted as new.
More homes for sale means more choice and less pressure; a week with none listed is a real zero.
What explains price differences here · Q3 2026
Once a quarter, Houseticker analyzes recent sales to measure how price differences are associated with home size, lot size, city, and school zone while controlling for the other factors.
The Gunn High discount to Palo Alto High runs deeper than raw prices show
Once we hold home size, lot, city and the other zones still, Gunn High sales traded at a 17.6% discount to Palo Alto High for comparable homes, somewhere between 5% and 25.6%. On a typical $4,580,000 sale that is about $805,000 less. This rests on 49 sales this quarter, 22 of them in Gunn High.
The plain $/sqft gap is only 8.3%, so the raw numbers understate the difference. The adjusted discount was 17.1% in Q2 2026 and 19.6% in Q3 2025, both clear. For a buyer, comparable homes have cost less in Gunn High across all three quarters.
The 10.4% year over year gain is partly about which lots sold
The median $/sqft for homes in the typical size band was $2,087 this quarter, from 23 sales, against $1,890 in Q3 2025, from 26 sales. That raw change is 10.4% higher and clear. After adjusting for what sold, comparable homes came in about 6.8% higher, and that evidence is not strong.
The mix of homes accounts for the rest. The lots that sold this quarter account for about 6 points of the raw change, zones about 1 point the other way and home size 0.7 points. Gunn High made up 43% of sales this quarter against 38% a year ago. A buyer comparing to last year should weigh the 6.8%, not the 10.4%.
Home size, lot and school zone split the credit for this quarter's price gaps
Taken together, home size, lot, school zone and city account for 66% of the price differences between the 49 sales this quarter, each read with the others held still. Lot carries about 30.8% of that explained part, home size 26.4% and school zone 9%, and lot and size are close enough that we cannot say one matters more than the other.
A home 10% bigger is associated with a price about 5% higher, and a lot 10% bigger with about 3.7% higher, the others held still. The rest is what the records cannot see: condition, updates, views, the street. For a buyer, that is the part only a visit shows.
Generated automatically from listing and sale records, and it can make mistakes: check the numbers before relying on them, and confirm details with the listing agent and public records. For information only: not an appraisal, and not financial, legal or real estate advice.