Caballo Hills & Ridgemont, Oakland

Tanja Odzak is a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Oakland and across the East Bay. Caballo Hills and Ridgemont are neighboring hillside areas in the southeast Oakland hills, around Merritt College and Leona Canyon, with Interstate 580 along the southwest edge. When we refer to Caballo Hills & Ridgemont, we are including both areas in that term. The MLS has no area name for Caballo Hills, so in the home prices below, this page means the homes inside the boundary we use for our own home search for both areas.

At a glance: In the 12 months through September 2026, the median sale price of a single-family home in Caballo Hills & Ridgemont was $1,330,000, across 11 sales. Homes sold for about 110% of their list price, and the middle sale took 16 days on the market.

Merritt College is on Campus Drive in the middle of the area, and Carl B. Munck Elementary School is also on Campus Drive. Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve, run by the East Bay Regional Park District, has its entrance on Campus Drive off Keller Avenue, and Leona Heights Park is close by.

Many homes here are newer than those in Oakland's older neighborhoods, and much of the area is open space, with the preserve and parks on its edges, so homes sit on hillside lots among trees and canyons. As with any home in Oakland, review the inspection reports, because drainage and foundation problems can show up on a hillside lot.

Hillside homes of any age deserve a careful look before you write an offer. Much of the Oakland hills is inside the City's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, which the City kept in place in 2025, so check the address: a sale in the zone includes defensible space paperwork under state law, and it is worth getting insurance quotes early.

Buyers in the hills ask about the foundation, drainage, the roof, and the electrical. Answering them before you list keeps them from becoming negotiating points later. Oakland's own steps apply here as everywhere in the city. The City's transfer tax is charged in tiers on the whole price, plus Alameda County's own transfer tax. The sewer lateral needs a compliance certificate or a time extension certificate before escrow closes, the sale triggers a sidewalk compliance certificate, with some exemptions, and a home in the City's Very High fire zone adds defensible space paperwork. Who brings the sewer lateral and the sidewalk into compliance, the seller or the buyer, is negotiated. My page on selling your home in Oakland lays it out.

Tanja Odzak works across the Oakland hills and knows what to check in a hillside home. If you're weighing a move to Caballo Hills or Ridgemont, that's worth a conversation.