Blog > Foster City Price per Square Foot by House Size: Why Bigger Homes Cost Less per Foot (2026)
Foster City Price per Square Foot by House Size: Why Bigger Homes Cost Less per Foot (2026)
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Price per square foot is the number everyone quotes, and in Foster City it depends on the size of the house. Over the last 24 months, houses of 1,500–2,000 sq ft sold for a median $1,146 a square foot, and houses of 2,500–3,000 sq ft for $1,042. Here’s the full ladder, why bigger houses cost less per foot, and what an extra 100 square feet is actually worth. We’re the Property Nerds, so the numbers come from real sales.
The short answer
- The city’s median: $1,096 a square foot for houses sold in the last 12 months (median 2,070 sq ft, $2.27M).
- Smallest against largest: $1,146 a foot for houses of 1,500–2,000 sq ft against $1,042 for houses of 2,500–3,000 sq ft.
- The next 100 square feet on the median house goes with about $60,000 more in price, roughly $604 a foot, well below the $1,096 average, once lot, bedrooms and bathrooms are held equal.
- Compare like with like: a price per foot from a much smaller or bigger house can be off by as much as $100 a foot here.
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Buying or selling in Foster City?
- What’s my home worth? Ask for the recent sales on your street.
- Selling a home in Foster City: pricing, prep and what’s selling now.
- Talk to a Property Nerd about your plans.
The ladder, size by size
House sales in the last 24 months (October 28, 2024 to October 27, 2026), by living area; sizes with fewer than 12 sales are left out:
| Living area | Sales | Median price | Per sq ft | Beds | Baths | Lot | Typical sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500–2,000 sq ft | 80 | $2M | $1,146 | 3 | 2 | 5,580 sq ft | 5.3% over asking |
| 2,000–2,500 sq ft | 55 | $2.46M | $1,112 | 4 | 2.5 | 6,010 sq ft | 4% over asking |
| 2,500–3,000 sq ft | 25 | $2.73M | $1,042 | 5 | 3 | 6,200 sq ft | 5.3% over asking |
Why bigger houses cost less per foot
Part of every Foster City house price is the land and the address, and that part doesn’t grow with the floor plan. Spread over 1,400 square feet it’s a lot per foot; spread over 3,500 it’s much less. Kitchens and bathrooms, the most expensive rooms to build, also make up a bigger share of a small house. So a small house usually shows a higher price per foot, and a large one a lower price per foot, even on the same street.
What an extra 100 square feet is worth
We compared 169 Foster City house sales from the last 24 months, holding lot size, bedrooms, bathrooms and the month of sale equal. On the median house (2,070 sq ft, $2.27M), 100 more square feet went with about $60,000 more in price, about $604 a foot. That’s well below the city’s $1,096 average, because the land is already paid for. It’s a pattern across sales, not a promise for an addition: what you build, how well it fits the house and the neighborhood all matter.
Using price per foot the right way
- Compare houses of similar size, in the same neighborhood, sold recently.
- Look at the lot. A big lot raises the price without adding living area, so its price per foot looks high.
- Count the same way. Living area is the finished space the listing reports; garages and unpermitted space usually aren’t in it.
- See the map: our price per square foot map and Foster City neighborhoods ranked by price per square foot.
Condos and townhomes run on their own scale: the median Foster City condo or townhome sold for $837 a square foot in the last 12 months (1,490 sq ft, $1.26M).
Foster City against ten other San Mateo County cities
House price per square foot, the last 12 months for the median and the last 24 for the size ranges. Each city name links to its own breakdown.
| City | Median per sq ft | Smallest houses | Largest houses | Next 100 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Mateo | $1,304 | $1,343 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,243 (3,000–4,000 sq ft) | $95,000 |
| Redwood City | $1,289 | $1,377 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $900 (4,000 sq ft and up) | $84,000 |
| Daly City | $829 | $948 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $580 (2,500–3,000 sq ft) | $30,000 |
| Menlo Park | $1,740 | $1,740 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,645 (4,000 sq ft and up) | $133,000 |
| San Carlos | $1,436 | $1,629 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,081 (3,000–4,000 sq ft) | $57,000 |
| South San Francisco | $896 | $1,041 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $645 (2,500–3,000 sq ft) | $25,000 |
| San Bruno | $1,000 | $1,087 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $751 (2,500–3,000 sq ft) | $48,000 |
| Burlingame | $1,554 | $1,703 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,219 (4,000 sq ft and up) | $82,000 |
| Belmont | $1,287 | $1,515 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,159 (3,000–4,000 sq ft) | $46,000 |
| Foster City | $1,096 | $1,146 (1,500–2,000 sq ft) | $1,042 (2,500–3,000 sq ft) | $60,000 |
| Millbrae | $1,233 | $1,401 (under 1,500 sq ft) | $1,036 (2,500–3,000 sq ft) | $61,000 |
Questions we get
What is the price per square foot in Foster City?
$1,096 for houses sold in the last 12 months (median), and $837 for condos and townhomes. Over the last 24 months, houses of 1,500–2,000 sq ft sold for a median $1,146 a foot and houses of 2,500–3,000 sq ft for $1,042.
Why is my house’s price per foot different from my neighbor’s?
Size, lot, condition and updates all move it. A smaller house on a big lot shows a high price per foot; a large house on a small lot, a lower one.
Does adding square footage pay off in Foster City?
It can: on the median house, 100 more square feet went with about $60,000 more in price in our comparison. Whether an addition pays depends on its cost and quality.
How we counted
Medians of closed sales reported to the MLS and read through the IDX feeds that power our home search, one record per sale with a usable living area and map position, the same rules as our city price posts. Houses are MLS property type “single family home”; condos include townhomes. The window is the last 24 months (October 28, 2024 to October 27, 2026) for the size ladder and the last 12 months (October 28, 2025 to October 27, 2026) for the city medians. The 100-square-foot figure comes from a regression of log price on log living area, log lot size, bedrooms, bathrooms and month of sale, across house sales with lots up to an acre in the last 24 months, applied to the median house. Past sales aren’t a forecast or the value of any one home, and nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice.
Go deeper
what adds value to a Foster City house, Foster City home types by the numbers, Foster City house prices by bedrooms and what your home is worth.
More Foster City numbers from the Property Nerds
Talk to a Property Nerd
We’re the Property Nerds at Compass, recognized as NextGenAgents by a national real estate portal. We’ll pull the sales that matter for your home and your plans, and walk you through what they mean. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a strategy call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.