BEST ANSWER
Woodside offers a wide range of lot sizes. What most people think of when they hear Woodside is the area around Mountain Home Rd. near Robert's Market. This central Woodside location will run $2-$4 Mil. per acre (just for the land) and a well built 4000-5000 SF home on the property will bring that price range up from $6-$10 Mil for a 1-2 acre lot, which is fairly typical. Of course, the flatter the acreage, the more desirable to he lot.
Woodside Hills and Glens offer smaller lots down to under 1/4 an acre and going up into the Santa Cruz Mountains along Kings Mountain Rd. or Skyline will offer much smaller lots within Woodside's city limits.
Expect to pay premiums for building in Woodside, partly because of the implied wealth of the community in conjunction with the much more stringent building guidelines that the run of the mill contractor will not readily know. This usually results in extra costs associated with supplementing a discount contractor's learning curve until they can get it right.
A few years ago, $500-$600/SF was typical for the highest end finishes. While I don't believe you will see that price range drop to $200-$300 for the high end finishes, it has come down with the strain on the trades due to the housing market.
You might be surprised to know that a several acre lot in prime Woodside will still sell off market in the $5 $10 mil range. Of course, there are very few of these prime lots available so there aren't a ton of such sales as there wouldn't be in most any market. It would be wise to consider new construction since investor/builders simply aren't doing much buying or selling these days. That's a large percentage of potential lot buyers who aren't in the market right now and you could walk away with a smile on your face.
I don't think you are too far off from the softening in the mid-peninsula markets, however, what I see in the market is that the homes are softening in the under $3 mil. price range, which is nearly entry level in the best parts of Woodside, Atherton, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto.
There are only 4 homes over $4 mil that have had price reductions in Woodside and have been sitting on the market mostly because they are for people with incredibly specific tastes, so finding the right buyer who can afford the price tag is tough.
The rest of the homes with price reductions are either near Woodside High School (yes, there is a piece of Woodside that is East of 280), near Canada Rd., or within a stones throw of Skyline. These are hardly the prime sections of Woodside and demonstrates to me that the homeowners here are reluctant to sell since most aren't in a situation where they need to.
All in all, the majority of listings are up in the mountains and not in central Woodside. It's still going to cost you to get into these prime areas and most sellers are choosing to sell off-market. If you are not looking for off-market properties, then there should be some new listings pop up in central Woodside over the next month or so.
I hope this helps.
Mon Jan 26 2009, 20:53
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