
The recession caused by the pandemic did little to stifle the cost of buying a home in the Bay Area, and real estate in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills remains among the top tier of neighborhoods in the region.
A report released last month by Compass Real Estate ranks Los Altos Hills as the fifth priciest neighborhood in the Bay Area to purchase a home, with the median house sales price coming in at $4.2 million. Los Altos came in 11th, with its median price for a home at $3.35 million.
Atherton, Pacific Heights, Hillsborough and Belvedere ranked higher than Los Altos Hills, respectively. Palo Alto ($3 million) and Saratoga ($2.9 million) were the other Santa Clara County neighborhoods in the top 20.
Unlike the previous recession in 2008, when home prices dropped precipitously along with the stock market, home sales were largely unaffected by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic last year, even increasing after a slight dip at the onset of the COVID-19 public health crisis.
In fact, the six-month rolling average of the median home sales price in the Bay Area exceeded $1.05 million for the first time in late 2020, according to the data.