Blog > Waterfront and Creekside Homes in Silicon Valley: What They Sell For (2026)
Waterfront and Creekside Homes in Silicon Valley: What They Sell For (2026)
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Silicon Valley has waterfront homes too: houses on the lagoons of Foster City and Redwood Shores, along the Bay’s edge, and beside the creeks that run down from the hills. From the listing descriptions of all 21,740 houses sold in 31 Silicon Valley cities in the two years to October 27, 2026, 121 were described as waterfront, on a lagoon or with water views, and 138 as creekside or backing to a creek.
The short answer
- Waterfront, lagoon or water views: median $2.19M, about the same per square foot as the typical house in the same city; 62% sold over asking. Most sales: Foster City (48), San Mateo (27), Redwood City (19), East Palo Alto (6) and San Jose (6).
- Creekside: median $2.64M, median lot 11,090 sq ft, 6% less per square foot than the typical house; 46% sold over asking. Most sales: San Jose (28), Los Gatos (14), Cupertino (13), Los Altos (13) and Gilroy (9).
- All houses: median $2M.
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.
City by city
Cities with at least 3 sales of either, most first. Each cell shows the number of sales and their median price.
| City | House sales | Waterfront or water views | Creekside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foster City | 177 | 48 · $2.34M | 0 |
| San Jose | 7,715 | 6 · $2.02M | 28 · $1.56M |
| San Mateo | 1,009 | 27 · $1.6M | 3 · $2.45M |
| Redwood City | 931 | 19 · $2.55M | 6 · $3.08M |
| Los Gatos | 744 | 2 · $7.34M | 14 · $2.04M |
| Cupertino | 417 | 0 | 13 · $3.23M |
| Los Altos | 549 | 0 | 13 · $3.2M |
| Gilroy | 714 | 0 | 9 · $1.5M |
| Saratoga | 460 | 0 | 9 · $3.84M |
| Woodside | 142 | 1 · $2.95M | 8 · $3.4M |
| Burlingame | 361 | 2 · $3.34M | 4 · $3.42M |
| East Palo Alto | 157 | 6 · $1.1M | 0 |
| Morgan Hill | 689 | 1 · $1.75M | 4 · $1.32M |
| Daly City | 639 | 4 · $975K | 0 |
| Menlo Park | 551 | 0 | 4 · $6.42M |
| Sunnyvale | 980 | 0 | 4 · $2.97M |
| Hillsborough | 231 | 0 | 3 · $3.9M |
| Monte Sereno | 78 | 0 | 3 · $3.9M |
| Palo Alto | 776 | 0 | 3 · $5.2M |
| Portola Valley | 145 | 0 | 3 · $4.6M |
What to check near water
- Flood zone and insurance. Look the house up on our Flood & Fire Zones page and get an insurance quote early; a lender will require flood insurance in a FEMA high-risk zone. The Insurance Lab walks through it.
- Who maintains the edge? Ask who is responsible for the seawall, dock, bank or levee behind the house, and read the disclosures and any HOA documents.
- Building near a creek can need permits from the city and the local water agency, and setbacks from the bank can limit additions.
- “Water views” can mean a glimpse. Visit at different times of day; tides change the view on the Bay side.
How we counted
Closed sales of houses (MLS property type “single family home”) between October 28, 2024 and October 27, 2026 in 31 cities of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, 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). A house counts when its listing description says so, so the true number is higher than shown. Price per square foot uses sales with 400 sq ft or more; “vs. its city” compares each sale’s price per square foot with the median for all houses in its own city (cities with at least 30 such sales). Past sales aren’t a forecast or the value of any one home.
Go deeper
Compare neighborhoods on the Foster City and Redwood City data pages, and the Disclosure Decoder explains the flood and natural-hazard reports. More from the same sales: what Silicon Valley buyers pay more for (every feature ranked), single-story homes, homes with an ADU, with a pool and with a view.
Looking for a home on the water?
A Property Nerd will pull the recent sales closest to the home you’re weighing and show you what buyers paid. 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.