If it wasn’t already, now seems like the exact moment California’s housing crisis got way out of hand.
A 384-square-foot “house”—which, let’s be honest, is less than half the size of an average one-bedroom apartment in the country—is going for $1.7 million in the South Bay suburb of Cupertino.
As of Tuesday, April 16, Compass real estate agent Faviola Perez, who is representing the seller, said the house received an offer "significantly higher than the list price." The sale is now pending as the offer is finalized, at which point The Standard will be able to report back on how much it went for.
For those prices, it better come with a fancy pizza oven or an Apple Vision Pro because that’s equivalent to an eye-popping $4,400 per square foot.
The listing describes the property as “cozy,” which is fair, although “tight” might be a more apt description. The front door opens directly into the kitchen, which notably does not include an oven or a range and is directly linked to the bedroom, which is connected to a covered outdoor patio.
Suddenly, one step out the backdoor reveals why the property yields such a high price tag.
There’s an empty 7,841-square-foot lot, which provides ample room for redevelopment opportunities. A “powerhouse of possibilities” awaits for any buyer who pays the right price, the brochure says.
Perez said the house, originally a hunting cabin, was built in the late 1940s. Cupertino has since completely changed all around it.
Today, the home is a bit of an outlier in the tony neighborhood and is flanked by towering homes with three-car garages—a feature perhaps those hunting enthusiasts should have considered if they wanted to fetch what everyone else is getting in the city these days.
According to records, nearby homes that have sold in the past year have gone for $2 million-$4 million. Perez said the home, located at the end of a cul-de-sac at 10036 Carmen Road, is likely the cheapest single-family home in Cupertino right now.
In just the first weekend of open houses last week, Perez said she met over 100 interested parties. Some people wanted to build an entirely new dream home in the backyard, while others envisioned expanding the tiny cabin into a larger house.
“This area is so highly sought after,” Perez said. “Somebody has just got to be willing to roll up their sleeves a little bit to unlock the whole value of that property.”
Cupertino, which is nestled between the likes of Palo Alto and San Jose, has some of the priciest collections of ZIP codes in the Bay Area. Its highly ranked public schools and being home to Apple Inc. headquarters are some of its main selling points.
The median household income in Cupertino was more than $223,600 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Besides the actual price of purchasing the home, the new owner will be faced with a much heftier property tax bill.
The current $206,912 assessed value of the property equates to $2,419 in annual property taxes. A $1.7 million price tag, by comparison, would equate to nearly $20,000 in annual property tax.