A recent claim that San Mateo Townhouse prices were dropping was surprising because the townhouse cited as an example was a 4-bedroom unit. Studio and 1-bedroom condos do have low demand, but “family-sized” townhouses have generally had balanced demand with almost flat prices since 2019. From 2011 until about 2020, townhouse appreciation matched that of single-family houses.
The townhouse was part of the new Pulte Homes “Heights” development, which has three collections. The 4-bedroom unit was part of the “Elevate” collection, which features rooftop decks and is the most expensive.
Townhouse Price History
The specific townhouse cited as an example has a price history:
- 2020/01/17 Listed $2,774,990 or $1,082/sqft
- 2025/09/28 Reduced $2,724,990 or $1,062/sqft down 1.8%
- 2025/11/16 Reduced $2,524,990 or $984/sqft down 7.3%
The Zillow listing is for a buildable plan, not a specific unit. The current average and median sales price for San Mateo townhouses is about $900/sqft, so the reduced price is roughly 9% higher than the average San Mateo sales prices.
Why This History Doesn’t Point Out Townhouse Price Appreciation
The reduced list price is actually still higher than Pulte Homes “starting from $2,384,990” web page description of their “Elevate” townhomes. Their map of sales shows two model homes, two homes for “Quick move-in”, and 27 “unreleased”, which probably means uncompleted. The list price is only an indication of what price they feel will bring in the appropriate visitors for either buying before the home is completed or buying one of their few unsold but completed homes. Their map shows 10 sold “Elevate” homes.
The listed townhouse is far from a typical San Mateo Townhouse. A typical townhouse is perhaps 1600 sq.ft and about 30 years old. A brand new yet to be built townhouse that is about 2,565 sq.ft. is very distinct from the typical townhouse sold.
Average San Mateo Townhouse Size
At the time this graph of San Mateo townhouse size was plotted, there were only two closed San Mateo townhouse escrows in the 1st quarter of 2026.
Average San Mateo Townhouse Age
After 2014, the average age of San Mateo townhouses showed significant volatility because a large number of new townhouses were offered for sale.