It’s an oversimplification to say that San Francisco is one of America’s most expensive real estate markets. In cities like New York, clearly defined centers-of-gravity host the primest of prime properties (i.e., Manhattan). But in the Bay Area, some of the most expensive properties are actually found in surrounding tech-heavy enclaves such as Palo Alto and Mountain View. Now, thanks to research published by Estately, it’s possible to track property values along the BART and Caltrain lines, the area’s mass transit and commuter rail. The real estate website analyzed six months’ of property sales located within a one-mile radius of each bus and train stop, and converted the results to prices per square foot. The most expensive BART stop? Embarcadero at $1,191 per square foot. Just three other stops saw average prices-per-square-foot top the $1,000 mark: Montgomery St., Powell St. and 24th St. Mission. Unsurprisingly, these are all prime center-city neighborhoods. The top 10:
Citywide, Estately’s data shows value spikes in a few Oakland neighborhoods, but prices then taper off steadily away from the city center:
Because the Bay Area’s commuter rail line passes through a number of affluent neighborhoods, the Caltrain data is more revealing. As it turns out, the top three commuter stops aren’t in the city at all, but rather Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Caltrain’s 4th & King stop in downtown SF ranks just number four:
The entire Caltrain system:
One thing is clear: In the Bay Area, the three most important words in real estate are now commute, commute and commute.