Image generated by Mary Pope-Handy with © Canva AI
Foster city is a popular master planned community jutting into the San Francisco Bay. Overall, it looks and feels pristine through the city, and the water views cannot be beat!
Unusual for the Bay Area, Foster City residents can boast of 223 acres of waterways, 13 miles of shoreline, and 12 residential islands.
Mostly built within the recent decades, and sporting much more of a “young community” feeling, the city is well planned with a nice mix of housing styles from townhomes to custom waterfront estates, and to the delight of boaters, some of these homes come with slips.
At the northern extent of what we call Silicon Valley, biotech firms are big employers for the area, as is Visa which is headquartered here. At the halfway mark on the peninsula, it’s not far from San Francisco or San Jose. Schools score well, with Foster City being served by both the San Mateo-Foster City district and the San Mateo Union High District. If this city is “work hard, play hard” then here comes the fun. Recreation abounds, especially near the water with fishing, boating, windsurfing, and summertime swimming. For land-bound recreation, the city is home to 19 parks and a golf course.
Foster City and Natural Hazards
In addition to all of the wonderful aspects of this city-by-the-bay, there are some serious considerations to factor in, too. One of them is the high water table, and related to that is the rising bay water.
The short depth from surface to first water matters due to water’s destructive effects on structures. There are problems in many areas east of Highway 101 with overly damp soils damaging foundations. This is not just in Foster City, but also in nearby Redwood Shores and also in the eastern part of San Mateo – anywhere close to sea level where groundwater is high. If you are buying a home in these areas, pay extra attention to the foundation! You can check the groundwater depth online. We wrote about it on our main blog: How deep is the groundwater?
In terms of the rising waters of the San Francisco Bay, I believe that Foster City is the only Peninsula City which is already making their sea walls higher. To me this is a huge plus for that city and is a big investment in the future. Learn more at the Foster City Levee Improvement Project.
One more thing to check is whether or not the home is in a liquefaction zone. Much of Silicon Valley is in that zone, but it’s best to be aware and research it upfront and not be surprised later.
Foster City Real Estate
Here are the annual real estate tables for single family homes (houses and possibly some duet homes – not duplexes). Click on the image below to see a larger version of it. These come from our RE Report subscription: popehandy.rereport.com. The landing page is for Santa Clara County, but you can navigate to see these tables in the ANNUAL pdf report in the left column, or click the word CHANGE to switch to San Mateo County and then to select Foster City.
And next, the same information, except for condominiums and townhomes.
Please note that there are many more townhouses or condominiums sold than houses each year. Something else interesting to see is that while the houses sold in 2024 had a higher sale to list price ratio than condos or townhomes, the average and median home prices both rose compared to the year before, but that was not true of the market for single family homes!
Common interest developments, particularly those with condo ownership, have faced a softening market in recent years in much of Silicon Valley. Buyers are more carefully scrutinizing the Home Owner Association (HOA) documents and finances, and many HOAs have seriously underfunded reserve accounts (HOAs have one account for things that need coverage within the year, the operating account, and a separate one for long term expenses, the reserve account). I know that our buyers, in most cases, have not been willing to buy a home with a really low reserve account. I suspect that’s hurting home prices.
Homes for sale in Foster City
Interested in selling or buying a home in Foster City or nearby? Please reach out to us – we do service those areas as well as the South Bay!
