The Monte Sereno real estate market

by Clair Handy, Mary Pope-Handy | Sep 25, 2026 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Real Estate, Monte Sereno Real Estate

The City of Monte Sereno is a popular community bordering Los Gatos, Saratoga, and the Santa Cruz mountains. It’s also quite small, with just about 3,500 residents, so tracking the real estate market trends for the area can be tricky.

Info at a glance (details further below):

• With so few sales and listings, Monte Sereno real estate data can swing quite wildly, so take it with a grain of salt.
• This city appears to be in a seller’s market with low inventory – just 4 available homes at the end of August.
• There were 3 closed and 1 pending sales by the end of last month.
• The average sale to list price ratio for August (based on those 3 sales) was 101.8% of asking, rising well above the previous month’s 95.5%, but below June’s sky-scraping 111.9%, and down significantly from this time last year at 103.9%.
• The lack of sales makes it difficult to track trends using averages and medians. It’s still useful data, especially if we piece it apart a bit. The MLS showed 4 closed sales in August, and from those:
  • Homes sold between $2,600,000 – $5,998,880. That low sale is one of the lowest we’ve seen in a long while, and it was sold off-market.
  • The 2 lower sales sold off-market (0 DOM) and the other 2 took 11 and 86 days on market to sell.
  • Of the 2 that sold on the open market, one sold at asking price and the other sold over asking at 105.5% of list. The higher sale had originally been listed at $7M back in April and had multiple price reductions before selling.
• As of today, September 25, 2026, the MLS shows that there are 7 available Monte Sereno homes for sale (2 are Member’s Only: Show), 0 contingent sales, 2 pending sales, and 2 closed sales so far this month. Activity has been high in recent months for this small city, though lately it seems to be coming in waves!

The number of houses sold in any given month will always be extremely small making the data tend to jump around. Checking the Los Gatos market will also help, but the best pulse on the market will come from identifying particular sales in particular neighborhoods to track relevant micro markets.

Houses make up most of Monte Sereno – there are no commercial buildings, just city hall, some churches or religious grounds, and an elementary school. There are also extremely few residential properties that are not detached single family homes. We don’t track the condo or townhomes in this area as we do in other communities because there just wouldn’t be enough (and more often not any) data for it!

First up for the market analysis is the Altos Research weekly profile for Monte Sereno (uses list prices, not sales). This is updated automatically, so feel free to check this article weekly to see what’s happening now with listed homes.

The number of home sales is very small in Monte Sereno. Even when there are sales, one or two outstanding properties could cause major waves in the data, so take this summary with a grain of salt.

August: 3 Sales

While the lack of sales and listings can make the data in these charts swing wildly, the overall trend in recent months has shown an active market in this high-end community, though it seemed to be having some up and down in recent months following an earlier spring peak. For the right homes, however, it’s still blazing hot! With so few sales it’s crucial to track the neighboring Los Gatos market as well, to gain additional insight.

What does it cost to live in Monte Sereno? With an average sale price of roughly $4 – $5 million, you may wonder if anything sells that’s not in the stratosphere – can you buy an entry-level Silicon Valley home in Monte Sereno? The short answer is this: it’s extremely unlikely you will find anything for under $3 million in Monte Sereno. Even a “fixer” often goes well above that. It can happen, although it’s rare, and the home will certainly be priced that way for a reason.

We also keep track of this market over at the Valley of Heart’s Delight blog, in addition to many other communities around Silicon Valley.

Other pricing consideration: what about schools?

Something else to be aware of is that most Monte Sereno houses are in the Los Gatos Union School District, but a small pocket of properties lies within the Campbell School District. Those with Campbell schools usually sell for a little less. Additionally, most of this city is within the 95030 zip code, but again, there’s a small pocket which is in the 95032 area.

Next, what kind of home is available to purchase in Monte Sereno now?

Click here to view Monte Sereno Homes for Sale

See all Monte Sereno, CA Homes for Sale & Recently Sold.
(all data current as of 10/6/2026)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.