Why Do Burlingame Pages Show Such Different Sold Medians? Reading the City, the Postal Area and the Census Move-In Years

Why do the Burlingame medians differ so much?

The pages differ in what they count. Redfin's $2,798,148 is a three-month median for the city and its text says the 74 homes sold were sold in August, up from 53, which is 39.3% more. A brokerage that republishes the same median says the 74 sales came over three months, and the two statements cannot both be right. The May report's $3,125,000 is one month of 27 sales, 22 of them houses, and 26 of the 27 sold above $750,000. The Silicon Valley statistics cover 60 houses over a quarter, and a house-only median runs above an all-types median because condos and townhomes pull the second down. That is an inference from the May report's property-type table, and it is labeled as such.

The postal area is a different count. One brokerage's page for the postal area shows a median sold price of $4.02 million for the three months ending August, up 8.7%, from 121 sales at 14 days, with a sale-to-list ratio of 106.8%, and the same brokerage's page for the city shows $2.80 million from 74 sales. The first is 43.7% above the second, computed here. Realtor.com's June figure of $4,256,500 for the postal area is 5.9% above the brokerage's $4.02 million, computed here, and the two cover different months. A seller who reads the postal area figure as a city figure will overshoot by close to half.

Zillow's page shows an average home value of $2,811,802, up 10.6% over a year, with homes going pending in around 13 days, updated August 31, 2026 (Zillow, Burlingame home values). That is within 0.5% of the Redfin median, computed here. A value index covers every home and a median covers only those that sold, so the two measure different things and are not expected to match, but they agree on a city figure near $2.8 million. The same index is up 10.6% where Redfin's median is up 1.8%, which shows how much the choice of measure can change the trend.

The listing figures are different again. A Movoto page updated October 2, 2026 shows a median list price of $2,862,500 for September, against $2,788,000 in 2025, with 48 active homes and 7 with price reductions (Movoto, Burlingame market trends). The May report put the median asking price of 35 active listings at $1,998,000, which is 36.1% below its own sold median of $3,125,000, computed here. The report says sellers are testing the market with conservative pricing, which is its reading and was not checked. A mix of condos and townhomes among the active listings would produce the same gap, and neither page shows its mix.

Is the Burlingame postal area more than one market?

The pages suggest so. The May report shows a postal-area table with 27 sales at a median of $3,125,000, and a property-type table with 22 houses at $3,325,000, three condos at $1,125,000 and two townhomes at $1,545,000. The condo median is 33.8% of the house median, computed here, on a sample of three. A report with five non-house sales cannot say much about condos, and this brief does not draw a conclusion about them beyond the fact that they exist and sell at very different prices.

The Realtor.com page lists neighborhood-level rows, and several carry Hillsborough names with zero homes in the period. This brief did not use them. The page also lists a median of 31 days on market for the postal area, against 14 days on the brokerage pages and 7 days for houses in the second-quarter statistics. A median of 7 days means half of the houses sold within a week of listing, if the statistics are right, and a median of 31 days means half took longer than a month. The clocks differ because the windows, the area and the measure differ, and the pages do not say which.

The competitive picture is more consistent. Redfin's page says the average home sells for about 7% above list and goes pending in about 14 days, and that hot homes sell for about 16% above list in about 9 days. The brokerage pages show sale-to-list ratios of 107.4% for the city and 106.8% for the postal area, with 67% and 63% of homes selling above asking. The May report shows 107.8% and the second-quarter statistics 107%. Realtor.com shows 105%. A ratio near 107% means the average buyer paid 7% more than the asking price, which on a $2.8 million sale is about $196,000, an illustration computed here from a ratio and not a measure of any one sale.

Supply is thin on every page. One brokerage counts 23 active city listings in August, up 11.9% over a year, and calls it about a month of supply. It counts 39 for the postal area, down 10.2%. Realtor.com counts 54 for the postal area in June, down 18.10%, and Movoto counts 48 for the city on October 2. The counts differ by source and month, and the city figure of 23 conflicts with Movoto's 48. A seller cannot read the direction of supply from pages that disagree on its level, and an owner who lists into a month with few homes for sale is competing with a different set of homes than the one in the page.

How fast do Burlingame homes sell, and what does the price per square foot say?

The clocks run from 7 days to 35. The second-quarter statistics give a median of 7 days for houses, and an average of 9. Redfin gives 14 days, up from 13, and Zillow says about 13 days to pending. The brokerage pages give 14 days for both the city and the postal area. Realtor.com gives 31 days for the postal area, down 28.77% over a year, and the May report gives 35 days on average for sold homes and 51 for active listings. The first group of figures is for sales that closed in 2026 and the last is for a single month, and medians and averages are not interchangeable.

The price per square foot is a better guide to value than the headline price, because it removes part of the size effect. Redfin shows $1,510 for the city, up 8.3%, the Silicon Valley statistics show a median of $1,563 and an average of $1,488 for houses, and the May report shows an average of $1,423 for the postal area and $1,542 for houses. Realtor.com shows $1,317, down 0.52%. The highest is 18.7% above the lowest, computed here, a narrower spread than the 52.1% spread in the sold medians. That is an inference, and the pages measure it over different homes, but it suggests that part of the spread in the medians comes from house size and not from price per foot.

The longer view is calmer than the monthly figures. The Silicon Valley statistics say the effective annual change in the median price per square foot was 2.6% over five years, 2021 to 2026, and 4.7% over ten years, 2016 to 2026. The pages also say prices recovered after a dip in 2022. A seller looking at year-over-year changes of 1.8%, 8.3%, 9.6%, 10.6% and 17.22% on different pages is looking at different windows of a market that has averaged a few points a year. The 17.22% on Realtor.com is for the postal area's median sold price in June and reflects the mix of that month.

Rents add a check. Realtor.com's median rent for the postal area is $4,875 a month, up 17.33%, with 33 rentals listed, while the Census median rent is $2,797. The first is 74.3% above the second, computed here. Asking rents on new listings run above the rents paid by long-term tenants, and the Census figure is a five-year average across all renters, so a gap is expected. The median household income is $196,882, so the Zillow value is 14.3 times the income, a rough ratio of two medians, and the postal-area figure of $4.02 million is 20.4 times.

Sources as cited. The windows, areas and measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

What does the Census say about Burlingame homes, owners and vacancies?

The Census postal area that includes Burlingame has 18,060 housing units and 43,025 residents. Detached houses number 10,783, 59.7%, and attached houses 671, 3.7%. Buildings of two to four units hold 600, 3.3%, buildings of five to nine units hold 1,724, 9.5%, and buildings of ten or more units hold 4,282, 23.7%, so 6,006 homes, 33.3%, are in buildings of five or more units. It is a place of houses with a large band of apartments and condominiums, which fits the sale prices of $1.1 million for condos and $3.3 million for houses in the May report.

The housing is old. The median year built is 1960, and homes built before 1980 number 14,128, 78.2%. The largest group is the 4,574 homes built in 1939 or earlier, 25.3%, followed by 2,757 in the 1950s, 15.3%, and 2,654 in the 1970s, 14.7%. Homes built since 2000 number 1,923, 10.6%, and only 321, 1.8%, were built in 2020 or later. The Census says nothing about the condition of any one house, but a stock where a quarter of homes predate 1940 is a stock where inspections and repairs are a normal part of a public sale, and a buyer's inspection list is long.

Owners stay. Of 16,317 occupied homes, 9,717 are owned, 59.6%, and 6,600 are rented, 40.4%. Among owners, 1,028 moved in since 2020, 10.6%, 3,848 since 2010, 39.6%, 1,937 in the 2000s, 19.9%, 1,609 in the 1990s, 16.6%, and 2,323 in 1989 or earlier, 23.9%, so 3,932 owners, 40.5%, have been in their homes since before 2000. Among renters, 3,468 moved in since 2020, 52.5%, and 5,591 since 2010, 84.7%. Two in five owners have held their homes since before 2000, which means a large share of the value sits in homes that have not traded in a generation.

Vacancy is 9.7%. The Census counts 1,743 vacant homes. Of them, 746 are for rent, 42.8%, 92 rented but not yet occupied, 5.3%, 239 for sale, 13.7%, 81 sold but not yet occupied, 4.6%, 206 seasonal or occasional, 11.8%, and 379 other vacant, 21.7%. The 239 homes vacant and for sale are 1.3% of all units, computed here. The figures are five-year averages and do not measure how many homes are on the market on any one day. The Census median owner value is reported as $2,000,001, which is the top category the Census publishes, so the true median is at least that and the figure cannot be compared with a sale price. It is 71.1% of the Zillow value of $2,811,802, and 71.5% of the Redfin median, computed here, and it is a floor and not an estimate. Readers comparing markets can also read the Mar Vista brief and the Eastbluff brief.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25024, B25003, B25038, B25004, B25034, B25077, B25064 and B19013. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

The first question is which Burlingame the home is in. The city, the postal area, the houses and the condos do not share a median, a buyer or a clock, according to the pages. A seller should ask for closed sales on the same kind of street and in the same size band, from the last six months, with the days to contract and the gap between the first ask and the final price. In a market where the pages say the average buyer paid about 7% over list, the gap between first ask and final price can be larger than any fee.

The second question is what a number measures. Ask whether it is the city or the postal area, a median or an average, houses or all homes, and what window it covers. The pages above differ on every one of those points, and a seller who reads the postal area median of $4,256,500 as a city price will overshoot Redfin's $2,798,148 by 52.1%, and the Zillow value by 51.4%, computed here.

The third question is the cost of selling, and the arithmetic is simple. Each 1% of $2,800,000 is $28,000. At 3% the figure is $84,000 and at 5% it is $140,000. At $3,125,000, each 1% is $31,250, 3% is $93,750 and 5% is $156,250. At $4,020,000, each 1% is $40,200, 3% is $120,600 and 5% is $201,000. These illustrate the size of each percentage point and are not quotes of any rate a seller would be charged. No page in this brief names a Burlingame commission rate, and the medians are not the price of any one home.

The fourth question is exposure and repairs. In a city where 40.5% of owners have been in their homes since before 2000, a listing is news, and a public sale means showings, a price history and neighbors watching the days on market. With 78.2% of homes built before 1980, a public sale also means a buyer's inspection and a repair list. A private sale has no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale.

The benefits are plain. Maison Off-Market buys luxury homes and estates directly from their owners and speaks only to sellers. A private sale has no showings. It allows closing dates that give a seller time to find a new home. It has no commission costs and no closing costs, and it avoids inspection repairs, which matters in a postal area where 78.2% of homes predate 1980, though the Census says nothing about the condition of any one house. The company does not say that a private sale always beats a public listing, and in a city where the average buyer is said to pay 7% over list, an owner is right to ask what each route yields. If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a Burlingame home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

The Redfin city page is a commercial page whose text says 74 sales in August where a brokerage's republication says three months. The May report is from a firm that buys houses for cash, and its offer was not used. The brokerage pages for the city and the postal area give different medians and different sales counts, and the postal area boundary was not checked. Realtor.com's postal area page is labeled June 2026 and lists neighborhood rows that were not used. The Movoto page gives list prices and a count of 48 that conflicts with a brokerage's 23. The Silicon Valley statistics are for houses only. The Census median owner value is the top category, $2,000,001, and was treated as a floor. The Census figures are five-year estimates for a postal area. Percent changes were taken as printed, and ratios and sums are this brief's arithmetic.

Conclusion

The Burlingame record shows sold medians from $2.8 million to $4.3 million, a city value near $2.8 million, clocks from 7 to 35 days, sale-to-list ratios near 107% and a postal area where 78.2% of homes predate 1980 and 59.6% of occupied homes are owned. The pages differ because they cover different areas, windows and home types, and the useful figure for an owner is the one for the same kind of home.