Bay Area home prices stay near the top, but annual changes are mixed

In short: The Bay Area is still one of the most expensive places to buy a home in the US, but recent price changes are not rising fastest everywhere.

What's going on

The Bay Area does not always rank as the single most expensive US region by every measure, but it remains near the top. A regional dashboard cited by local agencies puts the typical Bay Area home value at about $1.17 million in 2025. That is down from a peak around $1.306 million in 2022, but still far higher than it was a decade ago.

Within the Bay Area, some counties sit at the very top of California’s price list. California Association of Realtors data from late 2025 shows San Mateo County around $2.0 million and Santa Clara County around $1.9 to $1.94 million for the median single family home. San Francisco County and Marin County also sit well above $1 million.

At the regional level, the Bay Area median single family home price was $1.275 million in November 2025, compared with a statewide California median of $852,680. That is roughly 50% higher. At the same time, year over year changes were mixed, like a stock that is expensive overall but still goes up in some weeks and down in others.

What to watch

Some local markets are rising quickly even while others cool. For example, Redfin data cited by NBC Bay Area reported San Francisco metro prices up more than 14% year over year in early 2026, with a median around $1.7 million. But other Bay Area counties showed declines over the past year in CAR’s November 2025 data, including Marin and San Mateo.

Source: NYTimes