by Mary Pope-Handy, Clair Handy | Sep 29, 2026 | About Monte Sereno, Monte Sereno neighborhoods, Monte Sereno Real Estate
An Introduction to the city of Monte Sereno, California
The city of Monte Sereno is cozied into the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west side of Santa Clara County (about an hour south of San Francisco and a few minutes from San Jose), adjacent to the town of Los Gatos. It is a scenic, small city which is semi-rural with neither sidewalks nor street lights. It has, in fact, the tiniest population of the 15 cities within the County, having just about 4000 residents in about 1.6 square miles.
There are no businesses in town, just residences, the city office, a church or two, and Daves Avenue School. It is one of the most highly regarded and upscale communities in Silicon Valley.
Monte Sereno enjoys many rolling hills and green views of the coastal range, particularly El Sereno, the peak of which rises over the the city and has an elevation of 2249 feet. There is an open space preserve there now, with 1415 acres and 7.4 miles of trails. Please see the El Sereno Open Space Preserve website for information on parking, trail maps, equestrian trails, and more.
As you might imagine, the city is named for this mountain: monte – mountain, sereno – serene, calm or pleasant. And it is a pretty calm place to be.
It shares schools, police, parks and the library with the town of Los Gatos, so they have much in common.
Please also see The Monte Sereno Real Estate Market (updated monthly).
City of Monte Sereno Zip Codes
Almost 100% of this small city falls into the 95030 zip code, with a very tiny sliver belonging to the 95032 zip code. Both of these zip codes are also utilized by neighboring Los Gatos.
Public Schools
Of the approximately 1250 households in the city, all but about 60 of them fall within the boundaries of the highly regarded Los Gatos School District. The other small minority is in Campbell Schools.
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.
Trends at a Glance from the RE Report:
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
| Trends At a Glance |
Aug 2026 |
Previous Month |
Year-over-Year |
| Median Price |
$4,000,000 (-2.4%) |
$4,100,000 |
$4,668,000 (-14.3%) |
| Average Price |
$4,566,290 (+13.6%) |
$4,018,670 |
$4,839,330 (-5.6%) |
| No. of Sales |
3 (-50.0%) |
6 |
3 (0.0%) |
| Pending |
1 (0.0%) |
1 |
2 (-50.0%) |
| Active |
4 (+100.0%) |
2 |
6 (-33.3%) |
| Sale vs. List Price |
101.8% (+6.7%) |
95.5% |
103.9% (-1.9%) |
| Days on Market |
4 (-90.7%) |
43 |
10 (-60.0%) |
| Days of Inventory |
40 (+300.0%) |
10 |
60 (-33.3%) |
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?
- List View
- Map View
- Grid View
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$2,498,000
-
Lot Size
25,082.00 ac
-
Home Size
-
Beds
-
Baths
-
Year Built
0
-
-
$2,548,000
-
Lot Size
2,476.00 ac
-
Home Size
1,715 sqft
-
Beds
3 Beds
-
Baths
2.5 Baths
-
Year Built
2021
-
-
Sold
$2,600,000
-
Lot Size
9,194.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,206 sqft
-
Beds
4 Beds
-
Baths
2 Baths
-
Year Built
1969
-
-
Sold
$2,812,000
-
Lot Size
2,582.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,111 sqft
-
Beds
4 Beds
-
Baths
4 Baths
-
Year Built
2021
-
-
$2,898,000
-
Lot Size
11,270.00 ac
-
Home Size
2,608 sqft
-
Beds
3 Beds
-
Baths
3 Baths
-
Year Built
1967
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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.
by Mary Pope-Handy | Oct 17, 2025 | Monte Sereno neighborhoods, Monte Sereno Real Estate
The Twin Creeks neighborhood in Monte Sereno (and a small number in Saratoga) enjoys an ideal setting away from busy commercial roads, with gently curving streets graced by creeks, an abundance of trees, and the coastal foothills as its backdrop. It’s a more rural community in that you won’t find sidewalks, curbs, gutters, or many street lamps – if any. Property in this area is impeccably presented, with nicely maintained or updated homes and often gorgeous landscaping. Both homes and land tend to be large, though not in every case.
The neighborhood does not come across as pretentious at all, although of course it is a very costly place in which to buy a home. I think it comes across as more low key because the homes seem proportionate to the land, and many are ranch style rather than something trendy. These lovely houses are in sync with the space around them, so you don’t end up with the McMansion effect. The houses are nice but do not crowd the land.
As with most of Monte Sereno, this charming neighborhood is served by the Los Gatos Union School District (or the Saratoga Union School District for the handful in Saratoga) and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District.
What are properties like in the Twin Creeks area?
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by Mary Pope-Handy | Aug 1, 2023 | Homes & Housing Market, Los Gatos Mountains Real Estate, Los Gatos Real Estate, Monte Sereno Real Estate
The Los Gatos luxury home market is faring surprisingly well now, given the strange real estate market that we are currently experiencing with ultra low inventory, interest rate hikes, and the stock market being off after Fitch’s downgrade.
Earlier this year it moved around with extremely low inventory in January and an easier time selling to a whopping 13 months of inventory in March.
Some of the bouncing around is a reflection of the very low inventory and accordingly, very lo numbers of home sales. It’s important to take it with a big grain of salt. The best homes, meaning that they are in good shape, don’t have location issues, and are well priced, continue to sell in 1 – 3 weeks.
For an in-depth article about the Los Gatos real estate market generally (not just the most expensive properties), please check our linked article, which is updated monthly!
Los Gatos luxury home market months of inventory – homes listed for sale at $4 million or more
The months of inventory is the single best gauge to use in deciding how hot or cool the market is. For July 2023 it fell to 2.2 months of inventory, which is a decently warm seller’s market.
Most of the luxury properties in Los Gatos are under $8 million, and that upper level can be much cooler than the $4 – $6 million market.
I tried to pull the same info for the Los Gatos mountains 95033, but kept getting an error message from the MLS that there were too few sales to chart meaningfully.
Altos Charts for homes listed in the top 25% or top quartile for Los Gatos 95030, 95032 and 95033
These will be automatically updated, so check back often for a quick update on the Los Gatos real estate data for this upper tier!
Median list price
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by Clair Handy | Jul 31, 2020 | Los Gatos History
In 1940 construction began to widen, straighten, and modernize Highway 9. This was eagerly welcomed by locals who hoped to ease beach traffic and to eliminate the infamous ‘Death Curve’ at Austin Corners. The project was a success and the once bustling, popular, and even notorious, Austin Corners has since become a nearly forgotten by way.
The Austin Corners Namesake
Historic Maps from History San Jose highlighted to show DB Austin’s property of Los Gatos-Saratoga Rd and Quito. Click to go to the source of the maps.
The name Austin comes from Captain Daniel “Dan” Buckley Austin, who purchased 60 acres of land 1.25 mi from Los Gatos around 1882. By 1888 he sold all but the 2.25 acres of his parcel surrounding his home, though the area would keep his name for centuries to come.
Mr. Austin was one of the original stockholders and directors of the Los Gatos and Saratoga Wine and Fruit Company, and his property became the location for the Plant from 1885-1919. The Wine and Fruit Plant was a community effort, “built by local growers… to facilitate the processing of grapes” (LG History Research Collection) and its managers were respected members of the community, such as orchard owner Alfred Malpas and Antone Anderson. Mr. Austin did not live to see the Plant’s destruction due to prohibition in 1919.
Mr. Austin was heavily influential in the creation of a school house and a school district in this part of the county. The original Austin School District’s single room schoolhouse was built on his property in 1884, and was used until a new schoolhouse was built on the same location in 1913 at what is today 19010 Austin Way. This school district was incorporated into the Saratoga School District in the 1920s, and when the highway was straightened the old schoolhouse was raised and replaced with an Arts and Crafts style building that would be used as a nursery school for years (Saratoga History Newsletter March 2009).
A Trip to the Corner
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