The Local Lowdown: April 2026

Michelle Kim | May 1, 2026

The Local Lowdown

Quick Take:

Single-family home prices remain stable in Alameda County while the condo market continues to face headwinds with double-digit year-over-year declines.
Inventory levels remain more than 20% below last year, keeping the single-family market tight as the spring selling season heats up.
Single-family homes are selling at a blistering pace, with the average listing moving in under two weeks.

Single-family homes hold steady while condos continue to soften

The single-family home market in the East Bay remained remarkably stable in March. In Alameda County, the median single-family home sold for $1,357,000, representing a slight 0.41% increase on a year-over-year basis. Contra Costa County saw a modest decline, with the median single-family home selling for $870,000, down 1.14% compared to last year. The condo market, however, continues to struggle. Alameda County condos declined by 11.72% year-over-year, with the median condo selling for $565,000. Contra Costa County condos fared somewhat better, declining just 1.81% to a median sale price of $489,000. The persistent weakness in the condo market stands in stark contrast to the resilience we're seeing in single-family homes.

Inventory remains well below last year as spring arrives

Despite the arrival of the spring selling season, inventory levels in the East Bay remain significantly below where they were a year ago. Single-family home inventory stood at just 2,120 units in March, representing a 22.23% decline on a year-over-year basis. The condo market saw a similar trend, with inventory down 17.60% to 824 units. This persistent lack of inventory continues to be one of the defining characteristics of the East Bay market. While we did see new listings pick up on a month-over-month basis, the market is absorbing them quickly, which is keeping overall inventory levels suppressed.

Single-family homes are selling at last year's pace

Single-family homes continue to move at a rapid clip in the East Bay. The average single-family home in Alameda County sold in just 12 days, while homes in Contra Costa County sold in 13 days. Both figures are unchanged from where they were a year ago, signaling that buyer demand remains strong despite elevated interest rates. The condo market is moving a bit more slowly, with the average condo in Alameda County spending 22 days on the market and Contra Costa County condos spending 19 days. While condos are taking longer to sell than single-family homes, they're still moving at a reasonable pace by historical standards.

The tale of two markets continues in the East Bay

When determining whether a market is a buyers' market or a sellers' market, we look to the Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) metric. The state of California has historically averaged around three months of MSI, so any area with at or around three months of MSI is considered a balanced market. Any market that has lower than three months of MSI is considered a seller's market, whereas markets with more than three months of MSI are considered buyers' markets.

The divergence between single-family homes and condos continues to define the East Bay market. The single-family home market remains a strong seller's market, with just 1.6 months of inventory in Alameda County and 1.8 months in Contra Costa County. These figures represent year-over-year declines of 20.00% and 21.74%, respectively, indicating that competition among buyers remains fierce. The condo market tells a very different story. Both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties ended March with 3.7 months of condo inventory, placing the condo market firmly into buyer's market territory. This gives condo buyers considerably more negotiating power than their single-family home counterparts.