Santa Cruz County & the South Bay
Capitola, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos & Cupertino
North across the bay and over the hill — the markets buyers weigh against the Peninsula, with five decades of counsel behind the comparison.
Across the Bay
The markets buyers weigh against the Peninsula
Capitola, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos and Cupertino sit north and east of the Monterey Peninsula, and clients rarely consider them in isolation. They come up when a buyer is balancing coastal life against a commute, or when a Peninsula owner is deciding where else on the Central Coast their capital should sit.
The four are quite distinct. Capitola is a small beach town built tight around a lagoon and a wharf. Santa Cruz is larger, with a university and a working downtown. Over the hill, Los Gatos and Cupertino trade the coast for proximity to the South Bay employment centres — and price accordingly.
Four Distinct Markets
Capitola
A compact beach town around a lagoon and a wharf, with tight lots and a walkable village core.
Santa Cruz
Larger and more various, with a university, a working downtown and a long surf coastline.
Los Gatos
At the foot of the hills on the South Bay side, with a compact downtown and wooded lots above it.
Cupertino
Firmly in the South Bay, valued for its employment access rather than for any coastline.
Buying Here
The hill is the variable
Highway 17 over the Santa Cruz Mountains separates the coastal towns from the South Bay, and how a buyer feels about that drive tends to decide the question. Capitola and Santa Cruz offer beach proximity at a discount to the Peninsula; Los Gatos and Cupertino price against South Bay employment instead. Anyone weighing these against Carmel or Pebble Beach is really weighing three different things — coastline, commute and capital — and they rarely point the same way.
How this fits the Peninsula
Clients often hold property in more than one of these markets, or move between them as circumstances change. If you are comparing the Peninsula with the north bay or over the hill, we can talk through both sides — see Carmel, Pebble Beach and Monterey for the southern comparison.
For current pricing, inventory and days on market across Monterey County, see our analysis of the Monterey County housing market.
Begin the Conversation
Comparing markets?
Constance Dudley Laub has represented buyers and sellers across California for more than five decades — across luxury sales, trust and estate transactions, and investment acquisitions.
Hero photograph: Capitola, California by JPRoy2101, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.