How a sleepy Peninsula suburb became the Bay Area’s hottest homebuying market
The San Francisco Standard••business
Key Points:
- Menlo Oaks, a quiet Menlo Park neighborhood, is undergoing rapid transformation as luxury developers replace modest ranch homes with high-end estates, pushing median home values to nearly $3.2 million—a 4.2% increase since the pandemic and the largest rise in the Bay Area.
- Menlo Park, previously overlooked in luxury real estate despite proximity to Silicon Valley and Stanford, is now attracting affluent buyers due to its easy-to-build-on lots, straightforward planning process, and the replacement of post-war homes with modern, spacious designs.
- The influx of spec home developers has grown from about 10 a decade ago to roughly 30 today, with many projects focusing on adding modern amenities like en-suite bedrooms, gourmet kitchens, and accessory dwelling units
