Moving Out Before Selling: San Mateo County Deep Dive

Below, you'll find our deep dive into San Mateo County for Real Estate Myth #1: To move out or not to move out?

Time on market

Result: little difference in time on market between occupied and unoccupied homes outside of an extreme recession.

The 82,376 home sales across San Mateo County told a story somewhere between what we found in Marin County and the 680/24 Corridor, respectively.

Like Marin, for all but the deepest period of the recession, owner-occupied homes and vacant residences moved at similar speeds, with owner-occupied perhaps gaining a slight edge.

However, much like the 680/24 Corridor in Contra Costa County, the average time on market is quite brief, with the median home selling in 9 days in 2021.

Thus, as with the 680/24 Corridor, moving out before selling likely makes sense if it brings with it a premium on the selling price.

*Note that only cities with over 1,000 homes sold are listed.  County total includes all cities within the county.

Price per square foot

Result: In contrast to Marin County and the 680/24 Corridor, unoccupied homes in San Mateo County sold for slightly more ($6 price per square foot) than occupied homes.

For this analysis we looked at 82,376 sales of homes with square footage between 1,000 and 10,000 sq. ft. across 680/24 Corridor between 2007 and 2021. This slight benefit to homes being unoccupied vs occupied in San Mateo was observed across home sizes, though smaller homes saw a slightly larger advantage; unoccupied 0-2 bedroom homes sold for $11 ppsf more than owner occupied, while the gap was only $5 ppsf in 3+ bedroom properties.  

While most cities in San Mateo County saw higher prices for unoccupied homes, East Palo Alto was a sizable outlier with owner occupied properties selling for $78 higher ppsf than unoccupied homes.

*Note that only cities with over 1,000 homes sold are listed. County total includes all cities within the county.