Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda) Atherton, CA
Central Atherton between El Camino and the Alameda, the town's busiest and highest-priced market.
Living in Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda)
This MLS area covers central Atherton between El Camino Real and Alameda de las Pulgas, including Holbrook-Palmer Park, the 22-acre estate Olive Holbrook-Palmer left to the town in 1958. Atherton itself is named for Faxon Atherton, who bought more than 600 acres here in 1860, and it was known as Fair Oaks until incorporating in 1923. Today it's large single-family homes and estates on flat, tree-lined lots of up to an acre or more. It's the town's busiest market, with 33 sales in the last 12 months, and its highest-priced: the 2025 median was around $13M, and 2026 sales so far have been higher still.
Parking & walkability: Homes have gated driveways and ample off-street parking, and most streets have no sidewalks. Holbrook-Palmer Park is in the area, and downtown Menlo Park, Redwood City and Caltrain are each a few minutes' drive.
What homes in Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda) are doing
Single-family homes in Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda) sold for a median of about $6.99M in 2015–16 and $11.28M in 2024–25, a 61% increase, behind Atherton as a whole (+64%). In 2025, homes here sold at a moderate pace (median 18 days on market) and close to asking (99.2% of list price on average). So far in 2026 (22 sales through September), the median is $21.55M.
Median single-family price, 2015–2026
* 2026 covers January through September. Hollow dots mark years with fewer than 3 single-family sales; treat those medians as rough. 419 single-family sales since 2015.
| Year | Sales | Median price | $/sq ft | Days on market | Sale-to-list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Sep) | 22 | $21.55M | $2,465 | 14 | 100.8% |
| 2025 | 29 | $13M | $2,245 | 18 | 99.2% |
| 2024 | 39 | $10M | $2,278 | 39 | 95.9% |
| 2023 | 43 | $9.75M | $1,841 | 55 | 94.8% |
| 2022 | 28 | $11.25M | $2,063 | 10 | 96.8% |
| 2021 | 56 | $9.92M | $1,972 | 13 | 97.7% |
| 2020 | 44 | $7.47M | $1,720 | 30 | 96.2% |
| 2019 | 34 | $9.1M | $1,687 | 47 | 96.7% |
| 2018 | 32 | $9.44M | $1,770 | 44 | 95.1% |
| 2017 | 28 | $6.78M | $1,584 | 38 | 96.9% |
| 2016 | 30 | $7.2M | $1,507 | 39 | 99.5% |
| 2015 | 34 | $6.8M | $1,454 | 20 | 98.5% |
Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda) on the map
Borders are built lot by lot from the county's property lines and where homes have been listed (MLS neighborhood codes), and stay inside official city limits (dashed), so a home or two along an edge may differ from official MLS lines.
Other Atherton neighborhoods
Thinking about buying or selling in Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda)?
I can pull the exact comps for your street and walk you through what they mean.
Source: MLSListings, Inc. closed sales, 2015–September 2026, summarized by Drew Lehr. Neighborhood figures combine the MLS area(s) that make up Central Atherton (El Camino to Alameda); where there are several, yearly figures are sales-weighted. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.