Central Portola Valley Portola Valley, CA
The heart of Portola Valley, with homes on large lots near the town center and open space.
Living in Central Portola Valley
Central Portola Valley covers the heart of town along Portola Road and Alpine Road. Its history goes back to the Alpine Inn, built in 1852 by former San Jose mayor Felix Buelna as a roadside gambling retreat, but extensive home building didn't start until after World War II, and residents voted in 1964 to incorporate so they could control growth. Today it's single-family homes on large, often wooded or rolling lots near the town center, trails and open space. It's Portola Valley's busiest market, with 37 sales and a median around $6.1M over the last 12 months, and the median rose about 64% from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
Parking & walkability: Homes have long driveways and ample off-street parking, and most roads have no sidewalks. It's a driving (or riding) town, but the town center, trails and open space preserves like Windy Hill are close by, and Stanford, Sand Hill Road and Highway 280 are a short drive.
What homes in Central Portola Valley are doing
Single-family homes in Central Portola Valley sold for a median of about $3.51M in 2015–16 and $5.76M in 2024–25, a 64% increase, ahead of Portola Valley as a whole (+59%). Prices peaked in 2022 at $6.8M. In 2025, homes here sold quickly (median 14 days on market) and close to asking (100.0% of list price on average). So far in 2026 (22 sales through September), the median is $6.57M.
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. 357 single-family sales since 2015.
| Year | Sales | Median price | $/sq ft | Days on market | Sale-to-list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Sep) | 22 | $6.57M | $1,740 | 39 | 97.7% |
| 2025 | 38 | $5.81M | $1,769 | 14 | 100.0% |
| 2024 | 38 | $5.71M | $1,694 | 30 | 96.5% |
| 2023 | 22 | $6.25M | $1,444 | 26 | 93.9% |
| 2022 | 27 | $6.8M | $1,606 | 24 | 98.1% |
| 2021 | 37 | $5.1M | $1,550 | 17 | 98.4% |
| 2020 | 53 | $4.47M | $1,331 | 35 | 96.5% |
| 2019 | 21 | $4.5M | $1,367 | 31 | 95.8% |
| 2018 | 22 | $4M | $1,282 | 14 | 99.8% |
| 2017 | 34 | $3.78M | $1,188 | 15 | 100.0% |
| 2016 | 21 | $3.15M | $1,200 | 19 | 98.9% |
| 2015 | 22 | $3.86M | $1,184 | 21 | 100.0% |
Central Portola Valley 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 Portola Valley neighborhoods
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Source: MLSListings, Inc. closed sales, 2015–September 2026, summarized by Drew Lehr. Neighborhood figures combine the MLS area(s) that make up Central Portola Valley; where there are several, yearly figures are sales-weighted. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.