Nowhere on the Peninsula is there a community boasting as many large condo/townhouse projects as does Foster City. I’ve actually sort of procrastinated about writing a post about this market segment because it’s shear vastness makes it a bit of a struggle trying to consolidate all of it’s facts into a coherent report on how it’s doing. There are 24 projects with 50 or more units, Redwood Shores by comparison, has 15. These developments span the price range from a high of over $1.3mil last year at Promontory Point to a 1 bedroom condo being sold short at the Admiralty for $329,888. It’s been a long held staple of real estate thought that a single family home will hold it’s value better than a condo or townhouse and thus it’s a better investment but the fact of the matter is that in a community where an entry level house is $900,000 minimum and lots of people want to live here condos/townhouses have done really well. Appreciation has been steady in Foster City over the last 10 years yet some values have fallen slightly over the last 18 months or so. I believe that to be the product of 3 things, 1. The market is experiencing a natural adjustment, 2. Foster City’s short sales have basically been in the lowest price ranges where zero down sub-prime loans were most prevalent and thus these properties have been sold at a discount to move them and 3. Association dues in some projects have risen to a point where it has, to some degree, effected desirability. Dues in some projects are hovering between $450.00 and $500.00 a month…one project is now at $735 a month. Here’s some fun facts:

30 Total number of Condos/Townhouses actively on the market in Foster City

13 Total number of them that are traditional 2 story townhouse units

14 Total number of Pending Sales

15 Total number of closed sales in the last 3 months

6 Total number that sold at or over the asking price

2.1% Average percentage of price reduction on the other 9 properties

6.8% Average price reduction across the board on Condos/Townhouses in the last year in FC.

Again, with 24 projects chiming in and considering the variations in units and their relative conditions it sure seems to me that condos and townhouses in Foster City has been, and will continue to be, a pretty darn good investment. I debated this with a mortgage broker buddy of mine recently…I think that if a buyer is qualified to $650,000 and it’s a choice between a house in San Bruno, South City or Pacifica or a condo in Foster City…it’s the Foster City condo all day long. In the long run it will hold it’s value better.