Blog > Condos vs. Houses: The Price per Square Foot Gap in Every Silicon Valley City (2026)

Condos vs. Houses: The Price per Square Foot Gap in Every Silicon Valley City (2026)

by Eric & Janelle Boyenga

How much less does a condo or townhome sell for per square foot than a house in the same city? We took the 5,981 houses and 3,166 condos and townhomes sold in the 32 cities we cover over the 180 days to October 19, 2026 (every sale with a living area and a map position) and compared the median price per square foot of each, city by city.

The short answer

In 17 of the 23 cities with at least 15 sales of each, condos and townhomes sold for at least 30% less per square foot than houses. In the middle city they sold for 39% less.
The widest gap: Palo Alto, where condos and townhomes sold for a median $1,060 per sq ft and houses for $2,191 (52% less).
The narrowest: San Francisco, $1,133 against $1,192 (5% less).
Condos and townhomes were smaller in all 23 cities (median 1,240 sq ft against 1,843 for houses across all 32), and smaller homes often sell for more per foot, not less.

City by city

Cities with at least 15 house sales and 15 condo and townhome sales, widest gap first. Tap a city to see its neighborhoods ranked by condo and townhome sales alone.

City	Houses	$/sq ft	Condos & townhomes	$/sq ft	Gap
Palo Alto	177	$2,191	56	$1,060	−52%
Burlingame	96	$1,564	23	$832	−47%
Sunnyvale	223	$1,552	168	$856	−45%
Saratoga	99	$1,562	21	$864	−45%
Santa Clara	182	$1,287	109	$715	−44%
Mountain View	107	$1,692	122	$963	−43%
Los Altos	120	$1,956	20	$1,140	−42%
San Mateo	213	$1,326	125	$776	−41%
Redwood City	224	$1,346	50	$807	−40%
Menlo Park	130	$1,764	38	$1,065	−40%
Campbell	74	$1,237	40	$749	−39%
Cupertino	87	$1,624	35	$989	−39%
San Carlos	102	$1,465	29	$911	−38%
San Jose	1,648	$968	730	$628	−35%
Belmont	87	$1,287	16	$843	−34%
Milpitas	91	$1,044	92	$698	−33%
San Bruno	74	$1,014	34	$687	−32%
Daly City	146	$808	30	$592	−27%
Foster City	32	$1,113	63	$819	−26%
Los Gatos	169	$1,250	37	$961	−23%
Morgan Hill	146	$666	47	$528	−21%
South San Francisco	101	$887	36	$753	−15%
San Francisco	1,208	$1,192	1,217	$1,133	−5%

No condo or townhome sales in the window: Atherton, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Portola Valley and Woodside. Too few condo and townhome sales to compare (under 15): East Palo Alto (8), Gilroy (8) and Millbrae (12).

What the gap does and doesn’t include

A house’s price includes its own lot; a condo’s or townhome’s includes at most a share of common land.
HOA dues come on top of a condo’s price and aren’t in these figures. Our HOA Lab shows what dues add to a monthly payment.
Location is mixed in. Condos and townhomes cluster in different parts of a city (often downtowns and along transit), so a city’s gap mixes home type with where the homes are. The Neighborhood Ranking’s condo filter shows the figures neighborhood by neighborhood.
These are medians of recent sales, not values. They describe what sold, and they can’t say why.

Reading it right

Price per square foot is sale price divided by living area as listed, from the MLS through our IDX feeds; repeat records are removed, and sales without a living area or map position are left out.
“Condos and townhomes” follows the property type on the listing; houses are single-family homes.
One window of time: April 22 to October 19, 2026. Sample sizes are in the table; small counts move more from one window to the next.

Go deeper

The Neighborhood Ranking ranks any city’s neighborhoods by houses, condos or all homes; the Price per Sq Ft Map plots every sale; and Silicon Valley Neighborhoods Ranked by Price per Square Foot covers all 32 cities at once. The figures are also in our Data Library as a CSV.

Weighing a condo against a house?

A Property Nerd will put the two side by side with the dues, the lot and the recent sales, so you can compare the full cost, not just the price per foot. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a strategy call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.