Ask what home prices are doing in Santa Clara County and you'll get a single number back, usually a median that folds a Cupertino teardown and a Central San Jose condo into the same sentence. But split that number by property type and a different story appears. Single-family homes are still moving at a pace that would count as fast in most parts of the country. Condos and townhomes in the same county are sitting for roughly twice as long. That gap, not the median itself, is the number worth understanding before you price a listing or write an offer this fall.
The Number Everyone Quotes, and the Number That Actually Moves
The county-wide median sale price came in at $1.6 million over the three months ending in May 2026, down 4.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, with a median price per square foot of $967, down 3.3 percent year over year. That's the figure that shows up in most portal searches and most casual conversations about the market.
What it hides is that single-family homes and condos are behaving like two separate economies. A county-wide MLS-based market report, updated as of July 5, 2026, put single-family Days of Inventory (the time it would take to sell every home currently listed at the current sales pace) at 35 days, down from 43 the prior month. Condos and townhomes, over that same stretch, sat at 78 Days of Inventory, essentially flat and more than double the single-family figure. Time-to-sell tells a similar story: single-family homes averaged 22 days from listing to contract in June 2026, while condos averaged 34.
Even inside the single-family category, the average and the median disagree. In May 2026, the county's average single-family sales price rose 4.9 percent year over year to $2,647,510, while the median fell 2.4 percent over the same period. That split points to smaller homes doing most of the selling right now, since smaller houses typically command a higher price per square foot than larger ones. One county, one property type, and the average and median moved in opposite directions.
Two Markets, Same County
Here's the July 2026 snapshot side by side:
| Metric | Single-Family Homes | Condos & Townhomes |
|---|---|---|
| Days of Inventory, as of July 2026 | 35 days | 78 days |
| Average time to sell, June 2026 closings | 22 days | 34 days |
| Sale-to-list ratio, May 2026 | 104.6% | 101.2% |
| County inventory, year over year | down 11% | up 6.9% |
This isn't a one-month blip. City-level SCCAOR data from January 2026 already showed the same pattern in Santa Clara specifically: single-family homes averaging 16 days on market against 48 days for condos and townhomes, with single-family sale-to-list near 107 percent against roughly 100 percent for condos. The gap has been building for most of the year. It just hasn't been the headline.
Why the Gap Opened
Part of this is simply rates and inventory doing what they always do. But local market commentary keeps pointing to something more specific for the condo side: California's SB 326, the law requiring homeowners associations to complete visual inspections of exterior elevated elements like balconies, decks, and walkways on multi-family buildings, hit its first major compliance deadline in January 2025. Buildings that turned up deferred maintenance had to disclose the repair scope and, in some cases, the special assessments that came with it.
That kind of disclosure changes buyer behavior in a very specific way. A condo buyer today isn't just comparing square footage and HOA dues. They're asking whether the building has completed its inspection, what it found, and whether a special assessment is coming. That extra layer of diligence takes time, and time is exactly what shows up in a longer days-on-market figure.
None of this means condos are a bad buy. It means the condo segment now rewards buildings with clean inspection records and clear reserves, and it penalizes the ones that don't have their paperwork in order. That's a very different selling process than pricing a single-family home against three comparable sales from the last quarter.
What Your Money Buys Depends on Which City You're Comparing
The county figure also flattens real geographic variation. As of Q1 2026, the National Association of Realtors ranked the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro as the single most expensive metro area in the country, with a metro-wide median of $2,030,000. That number leans heavily on the luxury tier concentrated in Cupertino, Palo Alto, and Los Altos Hills, which pulls the metro average well above what a buyer actually encounters in most of the county's core cities.
Santa Clara itself sat closer to $1.6 million as of March 2026, roughly 15 to 20 percent below Sunnyvale's median and well below Cupertino's. Inside Santa Clara, the university corridor and central neighborhoods offer condos starting between $700,000 and $1.3 million, which is one of the few remaining paths in the county to ownership without draining a full down payment. The tradeoff for that price gap is a real commute difference: someone working at Apple Park adds roughly 12 extra minutes from a Santa Clara address compared to a Cupertino one, for a price gap that can approach $1 million.
Sunnyvale's average home value stood near $1.8 million as of April 2026, but that citywide figure masks its own internal spread. The 94087 zip code, covering Sunnyvale West and zoned to the Cupertino Union School District, has seen median sale prices well above $2.5 million, with competitive listings closing 10 to 22 percent above asking.
San Jose, meanwhile, posted a median around $1.5 million as of April 2026 with an average price per square foot of $905, the lowest of the three cities in this comparison. But San Jose isn't a single, uniform market on its own. A three-bedroom in Almaden Valley and a three-bedroom in Cambrian can sit at very different price points despite sharing a general reputation as San Jose neighborhoods, which is exactly why a countywide or even citywide median tells you less than it seems to.
What This Means If You're Buying or Selling This Fall
If you're selling a single-family home, the market still rewards preparation and realistic pricing. Days of Inventory in the mid-30s is still far tighter than the roughly 89-day historical average the county has posted since 2003, so well-priced homes, particularly smaller ones commanding a premium per square foot, are still moving quickly.
If you're selling a condo or townhome, the sales process now runs through the HOA file. Buyers are reading reserve studies and inspection records before they read the kitchen photos. Having a completed SB 326 inspection, clean financials, and no pending special assessments is a selling point worth putting in front of buyers early, not something to mention only if asked.
If you're buying, the leverage depends on which segment you're in. Single-family buyers should expect to move within days, not weeks, on anything priced correctly. Condo buyers have more room right now to negotiate on price and to ask for repair credits or inspection contingencies, especially in buildings still working through their SB 326 compliance.
A Few Questions Worth Answering Directly
Does the longer condo days-on-market mean condo prices are dropping across the board? Not evenly. The county median for condos was roughly flat year over year through June 2026, while the average dipped slightly. Pricing depends heavily on building age, HOA health, and city, which is why two condos ten minutes apart can perform very differently right now.
Is the single-family market still as competitive as it was during the 2021-2022 peak? No. Sale-to-list ratios have eased from the 105-107 percent range toward the mid-104s, and Days of Inventory has ticked up compared to the tightest points of that cycle. It's cooler than the peak, but still well under half the county's historical 89-day average, so it remains a market that favors sellers who price accurately.
The county-wide median is a useful starting point and nothing more. The real read on this market right now comes from asking which segment, and which city, you're actually comparing. If you're weighing whether a house or a condo makes more sense in your budget, or trying to figure out what a specific Santa Clara County city actually offers against another, Kristine Nguyen can walk through the current numbers for your situation and help you build a strategy around them.
