Saint Francis Wood, San Francisco: Real Estate Market Data and Neighborhood Guide

Saint Francis Wood was not built to simply feel special; it was meticulously engineered to feel exceptional. Laid out in 1912 by the renowned Olmsted Brothers—the exact same firm that designed Central Park—this enclave maintains a deliberate, low-density design that has remained completely unchanged for over a century. With exclusive, residents-only amenities like the private Terrace Green Park featuring tennis courts and multiple lawn terraces, alongside nearby access to Sigmund Stern Grove and Mount Davidson, the neighborhood offers a unique suburban feel within the city.

Exceptional Lifestyle and Education Access Despite its tranquil streets, Saint Francis Wood boasts a strong Walk Score of 86. Residents enjoy immediate proximity to West Portal’s vibrant dining scene, local services, and transit stations. Commuting is highly efficient, with the K Ingleside and M Ocean View Muni lines reaching downtown San Francisco in roughly 25 to 40 minutes, while I-280 provides rapid access for Peninsula commuters.

The tight-knit community of 1,600 residents represents a highly affluent demographic, with an average individual income of $268,517—roughly 90% higher than San Francisco’s citywide median household income of $140,970. For families, school access is a major draw. Nearby public schools feature strong ratings: West Portal and Sunnyside Elementary schools score 8/10, Aptos Middle School comes in at 7/10, and Lowell High School holds a 9/10. However, prospective buyers evaluating schools must be aware that the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) operates on an application-based lottery system, meaning placement is not automatically guaranteed by your address.

Unique Housing Stock and the Premium on Land What truly sets Saint Francis Wood apart is its real estate composition. Out of 650 residential records in our dataset, 95.8% are single-family detached homes, with only one condominium in the entire neighborhood. The building stock is historic, with a median original construction year of 1925, and 85% of homes built before 1950. These properties offer consistently large-format inventory for San Francisco, featuring a median home size of 2,812 square feet on generous 5,031-square-foot lots.

Interestingly, buyers here are often investing more in the land than the structure sitting on top of it. On nearly eight out of ten parcels (77%), the land value actually exceeds the improvement value, accounting for 60 cents of every assessed dollar. The median assessed total is $1,662,000, with $1,055,000 attributed directly to the land itself.

Market Dynamics: Proposition 13 and Extreme Scarcity The neighborhood operates under severe scarcity, heavily influenced by California’s Proposition 13, which caps annual tax assessment increases at 2%. Because properties only reassess to full market value upon sale, long-term owners are financially disincentivized from moving. Consequently, the neighborhood sees fewer than 15 sales per year, resulting in an annual turnover rate of under 2%. In the past five years, only 12% of parcels have changed hands.

Current Market Performance: A Hyper-Competitive Landscape This extreme lack of inventory creates a highly competitive environment where correctly priced homes do not linger; they get swarmed. While the three-year baseline shows that 70.7% of closings sold above their original asking price, recent data reveals a stark escalation. In a recent three-month window, an incredible 100% of sold homes closed above their asking price, spending a median of just 13 days on the market.

For example, 214 Santa Clara Avenue listed at $3,995,000 and closed just 23 days later at $5,300,000—a remarkable 32.7% premium over the asking price. Another property at 154 San Pablo Avenue traded for $2.6 million below asking, underwent significant renovations, and returned to the market four months later asking nearly $4 million, testing the upper limits of recently renovated closures that currently average $4,120,000.

With inventory near zero and an estimated run-rate of only nine more listings expected before year-end, waiting for the market to loosen is not a strategy supported by the data.

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Want to understand these numbers in even greater depth? Discover more about the Saint Francis Wood community, its exclusive layout, and its fast-moving real estate market by watching our comprehensive video series on our YouTube channel! Big Data Realty—we run the numbers, you make the call.