Peninsula guide · Tier A · Rank #11 of 28
House hacking in Redwood City (Woodside Plaza / Centennial / Roosevelt).
A spillover-of-downtown-Redwood-City ZIP: strong electrified-Caltrain access plus a moderate in-progress El Camino corridor upzone, at a mid ~$1.73M with a softer condo pocket.
Status check: Verified 2026-07-16: the El Camino corridor plan advanced (the MULW-to-MUT zoning amendment is complete), and the consequential item is risk: Redwood City's rent-control measure formally qualified for the Nov 3, 2026 ballot by unanimous council vote. The tier held at A with that risk logged.
What's actually happening in 94061
- Operational
Caltrain electrified downtown Redwood City station about a mile from Roosevelt and northern Centennial, with half-hourly all-day service. Caltrain
- In progress
El Camino Real Corridor Plan (in progress): ECR frontage in the mixed-use designation, with active nearby projects 1330 ECR (updated June 2026) and a 2025 State Density Bonus project (26 affordable); the GBI Action Plan was adopted Jan 2026. Grand Boulevard Initiative / SamTrans
- Mid-entitlement next door
Sequoia Station TOD (in 94063, abutting the northeast) plus Downtown Precise Plan spillover; adjacent anchors include Sequoia Hospital and Sequoia Union HSD on the 94062 border. Redwood City Pulse
The numbers
- Median price
- ~$1.73M (Redfin; volatile single-month prints to ~$2.3M)
- Market rent
- all-bed ~$3,355/mo (Zumper)
- Property tax (San Mateo County)
- 1.26% combined effective average (range 1.08–1.52% by tax-rate area; purchase resets the assessed basis to sale price)
- Per-bed rent band
- $1,150–1,600/mo per bed
- ADU rent band
- $2,500–3,100/mo
- Whole-home rent band
- $4,000–4,900/mo whole-home
- Underwriting vacancy
- 4–5% underwriting vacancy
- Appreciation scenarios
- 2.5 / 4.0 / 5.0 %/yr (conservative / base / upside)
Predominantly R-1: Woodside Plaza, Centennial, Roosevelt. Appreciation basis: Downtown-station spillover; the ECR upzone is still in progress. Rent bands are city-level medians; confirm the specific parcel before trusting any of them. Run your own scenario in the calculator.
The house-hack angle
The R-1 interior works through ADU and SB 9 only (no blanket rezone); mixed-use pencils on El Camino frontage where the corridor plan and the State Density Bonus stack.
What breaks it
- No in-ZIP rail: a walk or short drive to the downtown station
- The interior is R-1: density comes from SB 9 and ADUs only
- The Nov 2026 Redwood City rent-cap ballot applies here too; single-month price prints run as high as ~$2.3M