Berkeley · Neighborhood guide
Elmwood, Berkeley
Elmwood in Berkeley: early 1900s brown shingle and Craftsman homes around College Avenue's shops and a 1914 movie house. A local guide from Tanja Odzak.
Where is Elmwood?
Where Elmwood begins and ends depends on who you ask. The original Elmwood Park tract of 1905 was a compact area between College and Claremont Avenues, Russell Street, and Prince Street. The broadest definitions reach west toward Telegraph Avenue, north toward Dwight Way, and south to the Oakland line. For most people, the heart of the neighborhood is College Avenue around Ashby. The Claremont neighborhood rises into the hills to the east.
At a glance: In the 12 months through September 2026, the median sale price of a single-family home in Elmwood was $2,287,500, across 24 sales. Homes sold for about 130.2% of their list price, and the middle sale took 13 days on the market.
Elmwood on the Map
Where Elmwood sits, with the streets and places around it.
There are some micro-neighborhoods that fall under the umbrella of Elmwood but they don’t show on this map. Maps of neighborhoods are often vague, so use this one as a guideline.
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Homes for Sale in Elmwood
Current listings in Elmwood, updated from the MLS.
Elmwood Single Family Home Prices
Sales through September 30, 2026
Few sales, weak data. Elmwood had only 24 single-family sales in the last 12 months. Too little data means the numbers are weak, and weak numbers can misrepresent the market: one or two homes can swing every chart on this page. Read them as a rough guide, not a firm picture.
$2,287,500
Median sold price
6.4% up from the 12 months before
$2,236,233
Average sold price
0.3% up from the 12 months before
$4,141,800
Highest sold price
Sold September 15, 2026
24
Homes sold
Single-family homes
Median price by quarter
The middle sold price for each of the last eight full quarters. Each quarter is only about 7 sales, so a few homes can move it. Hover a dot for the quarter's sales count.
’24Q1
’25Q2
’25Q3
’25Q4
’25Q1
’26Q2
’26Q3
’26
Sale price vs. list price
The list price is what a home is advertised for. The sale price is what it sold for. Over 100% means homes sold for more than the list price. Last 12 months, 24 sales.
- $1,718,000
- Average list price
- $2,236,233
- Average sale price
- 15
- Average days on market
The middle sale took 13 days; a few slow ones pull the average up.
On average, homes sold for 30.2% above their list price.
How hot is the market?
How competitive buying is in Elmwood right now, from how homes actually sold.
Market temperature
90Very hot
Homes in Elmwood sold for about 130.2% of their list price, and the middle sale took 13 days.
How it is scored: half comes from how far above list price homes sold (100% scores zero, 125% or more scores full) and half from how fast they sold (45 days scores zero, 5 days or fewer scores full). Both come from the MLS numbers on this page. It is a gauge we calculate, not an official industry score, and it changes as each month’s sales come in.
Price by number of bedrooms
Median sold price by bedroom count over the last 12 months.
Bigger bubble = more homes sold. The number inside is how many.
Homes sold by price range
Where the last 12 months of sales landed.
- Under $750K00%
- $750K to $1M14%
- $1M to $1.25M00%
- $1.25M to $1.5M313%
- $1.5M and up2083%
Price range by number of bedrooms
The lowest and highest sold price for each bedroom count over the last 12 months, with the median marked between them. The bar runs from the cheapest sale to the most expensive, so condition, lot and street explain most of the spread.
2 bedrooms (5 sold)
Median $1.4M$900K to $2.1M
3 bedrooms (2 sold)
Median $2.42M$2.13M to $2.71M
4 bedrooms (9 sold)
Median $2.38M$2.1M to $4.14M
5+ bedrooms (8 sold)
Median $2.54M$1.4M to $3.2M
lowest sale highest sale median
These numbers count single-family homes only. Condos, townhouses and attached homes are left out. They are the single-family homes that closed in Elmwood, from the MLS. A neighborhood this size can swing from one quarter to the next on a handful of sales, so these show where the market has been, not what your home will sell for. When doing neighborhood stats, it is imperative to use the correct boundaries, as overlapping into adjacent neighborhoods may skew results. These numbers cover only homes the MLS lists under Elmwood. Want the numbers for your street? Ask Tanja.
Source: Bridge MLS, through IDX Broker. Based on closed sales listed under the Elmwood area in the MLS. List price and days on market: Bridge MLS, for the same sales. Information is believed accurate but not guaranteed.
Living in Elmwood
What it is like on the ground in Elmwood: getting around, errands, nature and schools, from Local Logic.
How did Elmwood grow up?
Elmwood started out as large country estates. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake sent thousands of people across the Bay looking for new homes, those estates were divided into home tracts, and Elmwood grew as a streetcar suburb on open land away from the center of town. Several of those early tracts still make up today's neighborhood, including Elmwood Park, Berry Bangs, University Villa, Bateman, Parkside, and Homeview. Elmwood was also the first subdivision in Berkeley, and one of the first neighborhoods in the country, to be zoned for single-family homes.
What kind of homes are in Elmwood?
Most of Elmwood is detached houses, with some small apartment buildings mixed in, most of those built between the 1950s and the 1970s. The houses are typically Brown Shingle, Arts and Crafts, and Colonial Revival designs, one or two stories, and moderate to large in size. Many date from the first decades of the 1900s, and the neighborhood's streets still show that era's scale and detail.
What should you look for in an older Elmwood home? Old homes come with old-home issues, and a century-old brown shingle is no exception. Floor plans were drawn for another era, so you may find a small, closed-off kitchen, or a bathroom count that doesn't match how people live today. Read the inspection reports closely and ask what has been updated, and when.
What schools are near the Elmwood?
Emerson Elementary School on Forest Avenue and Willard Middle School on Stuart Street are close by, with John Muir Elementary School on Claremont Avenue a little farther east. Maybeck High School, a private high school, is on College Avenue, and Berkeley Rose Waldorf School, a private school for preschool through grade 8, is nearby. Berkeley High School, the city's public high school, is downtown on Allston Way. All of Berkeley's public schools are part of the Berkeley Unified School District. School assignment doesn't follow neighborhood names, so check with the district for any address you're considering. The Berkeley page lists the public and private schools across the city.
What is College Avenue like in Elmwood?
The Elmwood's shopping district runs a block or two along College Avenue in each direction from Ashby, with more shops near College and Derby Street. Visit Berkeley counts more than fifty independent shops here, along with cafes and restaurants serving food from around the world, and describes it as Berkeley's oldest commercial district. It works like a small main street: you can run errands, pick up dinner, and catch a movie close to home.
What are Elmwood's landmarks?
The Elmwood Theater at 2966 College Avenue opened in 1914 as the Strand. Architect William Dufour designed it in an Art Nouveau style, and it was one of the neighborhood's first commercial buildings. It closed in 1941, reopened in 1947 as The Elmwood with a Zigzag Moderne look, and came back again in 1994 after a 1988 fire, restored by a community foundation. It is a City of Berkeley Landmark, and today it shows first-run films as Rialto Cinemas Elmwood.
A few blocks north, the Julia Morgan Theater at 2640 College Avenue was built in 1910 as St. John's Presbyterian Church, a congregation formed for people who arrived after the 1906 earthquake. Julia Morgan designed it in the Craftsman style, with a brown shingle exterior and exposed wood beams inside. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, it is Berkeley Landmark number 8, and it is now home to Berkeley Playhouse.
Willard Park on Hillegass Avenue has a clubhouse and open lawn, and the Claremont Branch of the Berkeley Public Library serves the neighborhood.
What's close to Elmwood?
UC Berkeley's campus is just north of Elmwood. Tanja earned her Bachelor of Science there, and the campus is open to everyone: Sather Tower's observation deck, Strawberry Creek running under the redwoods, the Greek Theatre, and the UC Botanical Garden. Alta Bates hospital sits near Ashby and Telegraph Avenues, and College Avenue continues south across the city line into Oakland's Rockridge.
What draws buyers to Elmwood?
Buyers who look at Elmwood usually want an early twentieth-century home with real architectural character on a tree-lined street, close to a small main street with shops, restaurants, and a movie theater. Being close to the university and to Rockridge is part of the draw, and Elmwood's larger brown shingle and Arts and Crafts homes appeal to buyers looking for luxury real estate with real history behind it.
What should sellers in Elmwood know?
Selling a single-family home or duplex in Berkeley now starts with a Home Energy Score, required before listing under the city's Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO). The rest of the process is on my Berkeley home selling page.
Why do homeowners sell in Elmwood?
Homeowners move on for all kinds of reasons including (but not limited to): upsizing to a second or third home, divorce, relocating for work, or the passing of a family member.
Work with an agent who knows Berkeley's older homes
Tanja Odzak knows what to check in a home of Elmwood's age, from original systems to the city rules that come with a Berkeley sale. If you're weighing a move to Elmwood, that's worth a conversation.
What is Elmwood?
Tanja Odzak is a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Berkeley and across the East Bay. Elmwood is a southeast Berkeley neighborhood of early twentieth-century homes on tree-lined streets, gathered around a small shopping and dining district on College Avenue at Ashby Avenue. The UC Berkeley campus sits just to the north, and the Oakland city line runs along the south. When we refer to Elmwood, we are including Lower Elmwood (the MLS also lists it as Baja Elmwood) and the Edge of Elmwood in that term.
Ready to find your next home?
Tell me what you're looking for and I'll get you real options.
Start Your Home SearchOr call/text (415) 722-0472
Ready to find your next home?
Tell me what you're looking for and I'll get you real options.
Start Your Home SearchOr call/text (415) 722-0472
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median home price in Elmwood?
In the 12 months through September 2026, the median sale price of a single-family home in Elmwood was $2,287,500 and the average was $2,236,233, based on 24 sales. The highest sale was $4,141,800. These numbers count single-family homes only, with no condos, townhouses or attached homes.
How fast do homes sell in Elmwood?
Single-family homes in Elmwood that sold in the 12 months through September 2026 spent an average of 15 days on the market, and the middle sale took 13 days.
Do homes in Elmwood sell above the list price?
In the 12 months through September 2026, single-family homes in Elmwood sold for about 130.2% of their list price on average, which is 30.2% above the list price. The average list price was $1,718,000 and the average sale price was $2,236,233.
Is Elmwood a competitive market?
Our market temperature for Elmwood is 90 out of 100, which reads "Very hot". It combines how far above list price homes sold with how fast they sold, in the 12 months through September 2026.
Where is Elmwood in Berkeley?
Elmwood sits in southeast Berkeley, centered on College Avenue at Ashby Avenue, just south of the UC Berkeley campus and north of the Oakland city line.
When was Elmwood developed?
The first Elmwood Park tract dates to 1905, and the neighborhood filled in as a streetcar suburb after the 1906 earthquake.
What styles of homes are in Elmwood?
You'll mostly find Brown Shingle, Arts and Crafts, and Colonial Revival homes, plus some small apartment buildings from the 1950s to the 1970s.
What is the Elmwood Theater?
It is a 1914 movie house at 2966 College Avenue, a City of Berkeley Landmark, that now shows first-run films as Rialto Cinemas Elmwood.
Is Elmwood close to UC Berkeley?
Yes. The campus sits just north of the neighborhood.
Do Berkeley home sellers need an energy score?
Yes. Under BESO, sellers of single-family homes and duplexes get a Home Energy Score before listing, and the Berkeley home selling page covers the rest.
Which schools are closest to the Elmwood?
Emerson Elementary on Forest Avenue and Willard Middle School on Stuart Street are close by, and Maybeck High School, a private high school, is on College Avenue.
