Blog > Portola Valley Home Types by the Numbers: Styles, Features and What They Sell For (2026)
Portola Valley Home Types by the Numbers: Styles, Features and What They Sell For (2026)
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What kinds of houses sell in Portola Valley, and what does each one cost? We read the listing descriptions of all 145 Portola Valley houses sold in the two years to October 27, 2026 (median $4.41M) and sorted them by style and feature, from modern or contemporary to pools and ADUs, then compared each group’s price per square foot with the typical Portola Valley house.
The short answer
- Houses: 145 sales, median $4.41M; 40% sold over asking.
- Style named most often: modern or contemporary (23 sales).
- Biggest premium (15+ sales): single-story, +26% per sq ft vs. the typical Portola Valley house. Biggest discount: modern or contemporary, −11%.
- How common: 12% single-story, 30% pool, 16% ADU and 8% air conditioning.
Next steps
- Search homes for sale, then use Save Search to get new listings by email.
- What’s my home worth? A starting estimate, then a real one from a Property Nerd.
- Talk to a Property Nerd about what you’re weighing.
By style
Styles named in at least 5 listings, most sales first. “vs. the city” compares price per square foot with the median for all Portola Valley houses (shown where there are at least 10 sales). Each style links to its Silicon Valley-wide post.
| Style | Sales | Share | Median price | $/sq ft vs. the city |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern or contemporary | 23 | 16% | $5.21M | −11% |
| Ranch | 10 | 7% | $4.8M | +17% |
| Mid-century modern | 10 | 7% | $3.78M | −1% |
| Craftsman or bungalow | 6 | 4% | $3.65M | — |
By feature
Features mentioned in at least 5 listings, most sales first.
| Feature | Sales | Share | Median price | $/sq ft vs. the city |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pool | 43 | 30% | $6.1M | +12% |
| View | 42 | 29% | $5.68M | −5% |
| Home office | 32 | 22% | $4.67M | −11% |
| ADU, in-law unit or guest house | 23 | 16% | $7.49M | +21% |
| Single-story | 18 | 12% | $5.42M | +26% |
| Cul-de-sac | 17 | 12% | $4.25M | −11% |
| Wine cellar or wine room | 16 | 11% | $6.58M | −15% |
| Solar | 15 | 10% | $4.4M | −6% |
| Main-floor bedroom (two-story houses) | 14 | 10% | $4.78M | −2% |
| Air conditioning | 11 | 8% | $6.7M | −3% |
| Remodeled | 9 | 6% | $4.55M | — |
| EV charging | 9 | 6% | $5.9M | — |
| Three-car garage or bigger | 6 | 4% | $7.25M | — |
By neighborhood
Our Portola Valley neighborhood guides with at least 15 house sales, placed by map position; the share of each one’s sales whose listing mentions each feature. See the neighborhoods with the most single-story homes, pools and ADUs across Silicon Valley.
| Neighborhood | House sales | Median price | Single-story | Pool | ADU | A/C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrowhead Meadows & Stonegate | 21 | $6.55M | 24% | 62% | 29% | 5% |
| Westridge | 20 | $8M | 25% | 65% | 45% | 0% |
| Portola Valley Ranch & Blue Oaks | 19 | $5.1M | 0% | 11% | 0% | 21% |
| Ladera | 17 | $3.85M | 12% | 18% | 0% | 6% |
| Los Trancos Woods & Vista Verde | 17 | $2.92M | 6% | 6% | 24% | 6% |
| Alpine Hills | 16 | $4.59M | 19% | 44% | 19% | 19% |
| Woodside Highlands & Hayfields | 15 | $2.7M | 7% | 7% | 0% | 0% |
Reading it right
- It’s what listings say. A house counts for a style or feature when its description names it; many never do.
- Associated with, not caused by. Houses with a feature differ in other ways too: size, age, lot and street.
- Price per square foot favors smaller houses, so features that come with bigger houses (a main-floor bedroom, a three-car garage, a view) often show a discount; they’re left out of the short answer’s premium and discount.
- Small groups swing. A style or feature with a few dozen sales can move a lot from year to year; we show the premium only with 10 or more sales.
How we counted
Closed sales of houses (MLS property type “single family home”) with a Portola Valley address between October 28, 2024 and October 27, 2026, reported to the MLS and read through the IDX feeds that power our home search, with repeat records from different feeds removed (normalized address plus sale date). Price per square foot uses sales with 400 sq ft or more. Condo and townhouse figures are from a separate pull of the same two years. Past sales aren’t a forecast or the value of any one home.
Go deeper
In Portola Valley: Portola Valley neighborhoods compared, homes with a pool in Portola Valley and homes with a view in Portola Valley. Every city side by side: home features by city. Every home-type post: Silicon Valley home types by the numbers.
Buying or selling in Portola Valley?
A Property Nerd will pull the recent sales closest to the home you’re weighing, on the same streets, and show you what buyers paid for the features it has. 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.