VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Home Prices (EC7)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Home Prices

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Home prices refer to the cost of purchasing one’s own house or condominium. While a significant share of residents may choose to rent, home prices represent a primary driver of housing affordability in a given region, county or city.

DATA SOURCE
Zillow: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) - http://www.zillow.com/research/data/
2000-2021

California Department of Finance: E-4 Historical Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State - https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/
2000-2021

US Census Population and Housing Unit Estimates - https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html
2000-2021

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - http://data.bls.gov
2000-2021

US Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) - https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/zctas.html
2020 Census Blocks

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Housing price estimates at the regional-, county-, city- and zip code-level come from analysis of individual home sales by Zillow based upon transaction records. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) is a smoothed, seasonally adjusted measure of the typical home value and market changes across a given region and housing type. It reflects the typical value for homes in the 35th to 65th percentile range. ZHVI is computed from public record transaction data as reported by counties. All standard real estate transactions are included in this metric, including REO sales and auctions. Zillow makes a substantial effort to remove transactions not typically considered a standard sale. Examples of these include bank takeovers of foreclosed properties, title transfers after a death or divorce and non arms-length transactions. Zillow defines all homes as single-family residential, condominium and co-operative homes with a county record. Single-family residences are detached, which means the home is an individual structure with its own lot. Condominiums are units that can be owned in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building. Co-operative homes are slightly different from condominiums in that the homeowners own shares in the corporation that owns the building, not the actual units themselves.

For metropolitan area comparison values, the Bay Area metro area’s median home sale price is the population-weighted average of the nine counties’ median home prices. Data is adjusted for inflation using Bureau of Labor Statistics metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-specific series. Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how home prices have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of the CPI itself.

The median price for two-bedroom houses in San Francisco decreased in 2023, while in the Bay Area it slightly rose. In 2023, the median price for a two-bedroom house in the Bay Area was 1.2 million U.S. dollars, whereas in San Francisco, it was 1.5 million U.S. dollars.

The median house price of residential real estate in California has increased notably since 2012. After a brief correction in property prices in 2022, the median price reached 756,200 U.S. dollars in December 2023.

In 2022, San Mateo, Marin, and San Francisco were the most expensive districts in terms of housing. In San Mateo, Marin, San Francisco, and Santa Clara, the average sales price of a single family home exceeded two million U.S. dollars. Solano, on the other hand, was the most affordable district and home buyers spent on average 640,000 U.S. dollars for a single family home.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price per Square Feet in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (CBSA) (MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEE41860) from Jul 2016 to May 2025 about San Francisco, square feet, CA, listing, median, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA (MSAD) (ATNHPIUS41884Q) from Q3 1975 to Q1 2025 about San Francisco, appraisers, CA, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller CA-San Diego Home Price Index (SDXRSA) from Jan 1987 to Apr 2025 about San Diego, CA, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

The S&P Case Shiller San Francisco Home Price Index measures changes in the prices of existing single-family homes in San Francisco. The index value was equal to 100 as of January 2000, so if the index value is equal to 130 in a given month, for example, it means that the house prices have increased by 30 percent since 2000. The value of the S&P Case Shiller San Francisco Home Price Index amounted to nearly 357.57 in August 2024. That was significantly higher than the national average.

Graph and download economic data for All-Transactions House Price Index for California (CASTHPI) from Q1 1975 to Q1 2025 about appraisers, CA, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price in California (MEDLISPRICA) from Jul 2016 to May 2025 about CA, listing, median, price, and USA.

In 2022, San Marino, San Francisco and Marin were the most expensive districts for housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. The median sales price of a single family home was over 1.75 million U.S. dollars. In San Francisco, the median price of a condo was 1.2 million U.S. dollars, while in San Mateo and Santa Clara, it was close to a million U.S. dollars. Solano was the most affordable district for both single-family homes and condos.

In October 2024, the median sales price of an existing single-family home in Del Norte, California saw an increase of nearly 30 percent, compared to the 5.8 percent increase in the state. 20 counties saw prices fall during this period. In Trinity, the median sales price of single-family homes decreased by approximately 36 percent.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Home Prices (EC7)

FULL MEASURE NAME Home Prices

LAST UPDATED August 2019

DESCRIPTION Home prices refer to the cost of purchasing one’s own house or condominium. While a significant share of residents may choose to rent, home prices represent a primary driver of housing affordability in a given region, county or city.

DATA SOURCE Zillow Median Sale Price (1997-2018) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index All Urban Consumers Data Table (1997-2018; specific to each metro area) http://data.bls.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Median housing price estimates for the region, counties, cities, and zip code come from analysis of individual home sales by Zillow. The median sale price is the price separating the higher half of the sales from the lower half. In other words, 50 percent of home sales are below or above the median value. Zillow defines all homes as single-family residential, condominium, and co-operative homes with a county record. Single-family residences are detached, which means the home is an individual structure with its own lot. Condominiums are units that you own in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building. Co-operative homes are slightly different from condominiums where the homeowners own shares in the corporation that owns the building, not the actual units themselves.

For metropolitan area comparison values, the Bay Area metro area’s median home sale price is the population-weighted average of the nine counties’ median home prices. Home sales prices are not reliably available for Houston, because Texas is a non-disclosure state. For more information on non-disclosure states, see: http://www.zillow.com/blog/chronicles-of-data-collection-ii-non-disclosure-states-3783/

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how home prices have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

United States House Price Index: FHFA: California data was reported at 655.910 Mar1980=100 in Jun 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 639.250 Mar1980=100 for Mar 2018. United States House Price Index: FHFA: California data is updated quarterly, averaging 227.460 Mar1980=100 from Mar 1975 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 174 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 655.910 Mar1980=100 in Jun 2018 and a record low of 41.630 Mar1980=100 in Mar 1975. United States House Price Index: FHFA: California data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Housing Finance Agency. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.EB014: House Price Index.

In October 2024, the median sales price of an existing single-family home in San Mateo, California was two million U.S. dollars. This was more than double the median sales price in the state of California. The most affordable county was Trinity, where an existing single family home sold for approximately 205,000 U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Home Price Index (High Tier) for San Francisco, California (SFXRHTNSA) from Jan 1987 to Apr 2025 about high tier, San Francisco, HPI, housing, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

All-Transactions House Price Index for California was 968.88000 Index 1980 Q1=100 in October of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, All-Transactions House Price Index for California reached a record high of 968.88000 in October of 2024 and a record low of 41.69000 in January of 1975. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for All-Transactions House Price Index for California - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on May of 2025.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR List Rents (EC9)

FULL MEASURE NAME List Rents

LAST UPDATED October 2016

DESCRIPTION List rent refers to the advertised rents for available rental housing and serves as a measure of housing costs for new households moving into a neighborhood, city, county or region.

DATA SOURCE real Answers (1994 – 2015) no link

Zillow Metro Median Listing Price All Homes (2010-2016) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) List rents data reflects median rent prices advertised for available apartments rather than median rent payments; more information is available in the indicator definition above. Regional and local geographies rely on data collected by real Answers, a research organization and database publisher specializing in the multifamily housing market. real Answers focuses on collecting longitudinal data for individual rental properties through quarterly surveys. For the Bay Area, their database is comprised of properties with 40 to 3,000+ housing units. Median list prices most likely have an upward bias due to the exclusion of smaller properties. The bias may be most extreme in geographies where large rental properties represent a small portion of the overall rental market. A map of the individual properties surveyed is included in the Local Focus section.

Individual properties surveyed provided lower- and upper-bound ranges for the various types of housing available (studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, etc.). Median lower- and upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the regional and county geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the average of the median lower- and upper-bound prices for the region and counties. Median upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the city geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the median upper-bound price for cities. For simplicity, only the mean list rent is displayed for the individual properties. The metro areas geography rely upon Zillow data, which is the median price for rentals listed through www.zillow.com during the month. Like the real Answers data, Zillow's median list prices most likely have an upward bias since small properties are underrepresented in Zillow's listings. The metro area data for the Bay Area cannot be compared to the regional Bay Area data. Due to afore mentioned data limitations, this data is suitable for analyzing the change in list rents over time but not necessarily comparisons of absolute list rents. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Due to the limited number of rental properties surveyed, city-level data is unavailable for Atherton, Belvedere, Brisbane, Calistoga, Clayton, Cloverdale, Cotati, Fairfax, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Moranga, Oakley, Orinda, Portola Valley, Rio Vista, Ross, San Anselmo, San Carlos, Saratoga, Sebastopol, Windsor, Woodside, and Yountville.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rents have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself. Percent change in inflation-adjusted median is calculated with respect to the median price from the fourth quarter or December of the base year.

The median listing price in a given market during the specified month.

With the release of its September 2022 housing trends report, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting housing inventory trends and metrics. The new methodology updates and improves the calculation of time on market and improves handling of duplicate listings. Most areas across the country will see minor changes with a smaller handful of areas seeing larger updates. As a result of these changes, the data released since October 2022 will not be directly comparable with previous data releases (files downloaded before October 2022) and Realtor.com® economics blog posts. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology. More details are available at the source's Real Estate Data Library (https://www.realtor.com/research/data/).

With the release of its November 2021 housing trends report, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting housing inventory trends and metrics. The new methodology uses the latest and most accurate data mapping of listing statuses to yield a cleaner and more consistent measurement of active listings at both the national and local level. The methodology has also been adjusted to better account for missing data in some fields including square footage. Most areas across the country will see minor changes with a smaller handful of areas seeing larger updates. As a result of these changes, the data released since December 2021 will not be directly comparable with previous data releases (files downloaded before December 2021) and Realtor.com® economics blog posts. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology. More details are available at the source's Real Estate Data Library (https://www.realtor.com/research/data/).

Mexico Average House Price: Baja California data was reported at 903,598.000 MXN in Mar 2019. This records an increase from the previous number of 720,437.000 MXN for Dec 2018. Mexico Average House Price: Baja California data is updated quarterly, averaging 658,724.000 MXN from Dec 2014 (Median) to Mar 2019, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 903,598.000 MXN in Mar 2019 and a record low of 562,050.000 MXN in Dec 2014. Mexico Average House Price: Baja California data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Federal Mortgage Society. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.EB005: Average House Price.