Los Altos
Los Altos is the most consistently single-family city in the service area — 82.1% of its housing is one-unit detached.
The Numbers
Los Altos market snapshot
| Measure | July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Median sale price — single-family re-sale homes | $4,850,000 |
| Average days on market | 28 |
| Homes sold | 23 |
| Year over year | +15.4% |
| Median year built (ACS 2020–2024) | 1964 |
| One-unit detached share | 82.1% |
Price, days on market and sales count: MLSListings, Inc. via rereport.com, July 2026, single-family re-sale homes. Days on market is published as an average, not a median, and measures list date to contract rather than to close. Housing-stock figures where shown are US Census ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates. Figures change monthly — ask me for the current month before making a decision on them.
Housing stock
Median year built is 1964, and the orchard-subdivision era shows: wide lots, single-storey ranch plans, and a steady stream of tear-down-and-rebuild activity that sets the comparable set for anything original. If your home is unremodelled, the relevant comparison is often land value rather than improved value, and the two produce very different pricing strategies.
Getting around
Sits between Interstate 280 and El Camino Real, with Los Altos Hills unincorporated to the west. No Caltrain station inside city limits — Mountain View and Sunnyvale stations serve it. Access to the 280 corridor makes the drive to the mid-Peninsula employment centres straightforward.
What Prop 19 means for a longtime Los Altos owner
Owners who bought before Proposition 13 took effect in 1978, or in the years just after, hold assessed values that can be under 5% of today's market value. Los Altos is where the arithmetic of staying put versus moving is most distorted by property tax, and where mapping the base-year transfer before listing changes the decision most often.
If you are 55 or older you can carry your existing property-tax base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times. Read the Prop 19 guide, or run your net proceeds to see what a sale actually leaves you.
Selling here
Only the county transfer tax applies — no city transfer tax. With 23 sales in the month, the median is drawn from a small sample and moves sharply; a single trophy sale can shift it several hundred thousand dollars.
Straight about the numbers: the figures above are transcribed from the sources named, for the month named. They describe a market, not your house. Condition, location within the city, lot and timing move an individual sale far more than a median does. Nothing here is legal or tax advice — your attorney and CPA have the final word.
What’s your Los Altos home worth?
A median tells you about the market. It doesn’t tell you about your house. Send me the address and I’ll put together a real analysis by hand — genuinely comparable sales near you, condition adjustments, and an honest range. If it’s not a good moment to sell, I’ll say so.
Thinking about selling in Los Altos?
A What's-Next Consultation covers your realistic value, your net after taxes, your Prop 19 options and the sequence that protects them. A conversation, not a pitch.
Book a What's-Next Consultation