Santa Maria & Russell Portola Valley, CA
Wooded hillside homes near the Woodside Highlands area of Portola Valley.
Living in Santa Maria & Russell
Santa Maria & Russell is a wooded hillside area of Portola Valley near the Woodside Highlands neighborhood, with single-family homes on sloping, tree-covered lots. About 5 to 7 homes sell each year, with a 12-month median around $2.7M, one of the more approachable price points in Portola Valley.
Parking & walkability: Homes have driveways and off-street parking, and the roads are narrow and winding with no sidewalks. It's a driving area, with trails and open space close by and Portola Valley's town center, Woodside and Highway 280 a short drive.
What homes in Santa Maria & Russell are doing
Single-family homes in Santa Maria & Russell sold for a median of about $1.72M in 2015–16 and $2.46M in 2024–25, a 43% increase, behind Portola Valley as a whole (+59%). In 2025, homes here sold slowly (median 38 days on market) and usually below asking (97.5% of list price on average). So far in 2026 (5 sales through September), the median is $2.7M.
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. 52 single-family sales since 2015.
| Year | Sales | Median price | $/sq ft | Days on market | Sale-to-list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Sep) | 5 | $2.7M | $1,378 | 19 | 98.2% |
| 2025 | 5 | $2.5M | $1,165 | 38 | 97.5% |
| 2024 | 7 | $2.43M | $1,242 | 27 | 100.0% |
| 2023 | 2 few sales | $2.46M | $1,114 | 47 | 98.6% |
| 2022 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 2021 | 4 | $2.38M | $1,171 | 13 | 98.2% |
| 2020 | 4 | $2.17M | $1,052 | 26 | 97.1% |
| 2019 | 3 | $1.9M | $1,041 | 13 | 99.1% |
| 2018 | 8 | $2.25M | $869 | 20 | 97.5% |
| 2017 | 3 | $2.17M | $954 | 31 | 109.4% |
| 2016 | 8 | $1.74M | $980 | 13 | 103.4% |
| 2015 | 3 | $1.65M | $906 | 19 | 103.7% |
Santa Maria & Russell 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 Santa Maria & Russell; where there are several, yearly figures are sales-weighted. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.