Every ZIP Here Got More Expensive This Summer. Except One.

In the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026, Brisbane was the one ZIP where the median sale price fell year over year, and its sellers conceded less at the table, not more, even as most other ZIPs in the territory posted gains.

A year ago, buying a house in Brisbane meant paying close to full price and hoping the seller would take it. This year, something in that town flipped, and it flipped in a direction almost nowhere else nearby did.

Burlingame, Daly City, Millbrae, San Bruno, South San Francisco, San Francisco and San Mateo all closed out the period with a higher median sale price than they had in the same stretch a year earlier. Brisbane didn't.

In Brisbane, the median sale price a year ago was $1,395,000. This period it was $1,335,000, the only ZIP-level price decline in the whole report.

Here's what makes it interesting. Brisbane's average sale-to-list ratio was about 103.6% this period. That ratio in Brisbane was up roughly 6 percentage points from a year earlier. Buyers there are still bidding above list. They're just bidding above a lower number, and giving up more room to get the house, not less.

Part of the story is size. Brisbane's homes sold count for the period was 15, the smallest of any ZIP in the territory. A market that thin can move on a handful of unusual sales in a way a market with a hundred closings can't.

San Mateo ran the same experiment in reverse, and it's worth sitting with. San Mateo's median sale price a year ago was $1,157,500. This period it was $1,350,000.

San Mateo's average sale-to-list ratio was about 98.8% this period. That ratio in San Mateo was down roughly 1 percentage point from a year earlier.

Put those two towns side by side and the pattern flips completely. Prices fell in Brisbane while its sellers gained negotiating room. Prices rose in San Mateo while its sellers gave up some of the room they had. A rising or falling median, on its own, tells you nothing about who is winning the negotiation in that town.

Not every ZIP moved at all. Pacifica's median held exactly at $1,315,000, unchanged from the same period a year ago, while its neighbors climbed or, in Brisbane's case, pulled back.

Across all ten ZIP codes in this report, 649 homes sold in the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026, up from 563 in the same window a year earlier. More closed overall even as the individual towns inside that total told three different stories.

What does this mean if you're on either side of a deal in one of these towns? If you're selling in Brisbane, a lower median doesn't mean a weaker hand. Buyers are still competing for what little is on the market, and the sale-to-list numbers back that up. Price for the small pool you actually have, not the one from a year ago. If you're selling in San Mateo, the opposite caution applies: a higher median hasn't bought you more leverage at the table, so don't assume the number alone carries your asking price into a full-price offer.

If you're buying in Brisbane, the low sale count cuts both ways. There isn't much to choose from, but what little sells is going for less than it did a year ago, even with buyers still coming in over list. In San Mateo, buyers now have a bit more room to negotiate than they did a year ago, even though the home itself costs more to land.

What's worth watching from here is whether Brisbane's small sample keeps behaving this way once more homes trade, or whether this period turns out to be one town's version of a coin flip. MLS sold data for the twelve weeks ending August 23, 2026 is what this report is built on, and the next window will say which read it was.