2026 San Carlos Neighborhood Check-In: Alder Manor

This is the sixth and final post in a series of data-centric check-ins on each of the six San Carlos neighborhoods, where we take a closer look at how each neighborhood performed in 2025. This week, we will dive into the Alder Manor neighborhood.

Alder Manor

In last week's edition of “The 2026 San Carlos Neighborhood Check-In,” I highlighted Beverly Terrace– one of the two prime neighborhoods that comprise the western hills of San Carlos. In this post, we will highlight the adjacent neighborhood just to the south of Beverly Terrace: Alder Manor. You can think of Alder Manor as everything in San Carlos that is west of the Alameda but south of Brittan Avenue, as you can see on the map below:

An Overlooked Gem.

Alder Manor has always been a bit of a paradox. On one hand, it's often passed over by prospective San Carlos home buyers because a significant portion of the neighborhood is in the Redwood City School District, not the San Carlos School District boundary. And yet, Alder Manor was still the second most expensive neighborhood in San Carlos in 2025 for both average and median sales prices, just edged out by its adjacent neighbor, Beverly Terrace.

This makes sense when you consider that Alder Manor, much like Beverly Terrace, is comprised of larger lots and, consequently, larger homes than the neighborhoods in the flats of San Carlos. And the homes on top of the hill that are in the San Carlos School District — think La Mesa Drive and Mesa Verde Way — help keep those average prices very high.

The lower region of Alder Manor is an ideal neighborhood for someone who wants a San Carlos address but doesn't care about the school district, which is why you see a number of retirees and empty nesters in this great neighborhood.

The Numbers

Just like Beverly Terrace, Alder Manor posted huge average and median sales prices, but it was near the bottom in average price per square foot. If you've followed my reasoning in previous posts, that's an indication that homes are generally larger on average. Let's see if that theory holds in the numbers below.

This first graph shows the number of single-family homes that have sold in this area each year since 2021:

Like the rest of San Carlos, Alder Manor experienced a significant spike in home sales in 2021, feeding off the post-pandemic housing rush that was fueled by pent-up demand and 3% mortgage rates. The market was punished over the next three years as rates rose dramatically to fend off inflation. The 29 homes that sold in Alder Manor in 2022 were the lowest yearly total for that neighborhood in at least 10 years, dating back to the Recession, and the sales numbers have remained relatively flat since then.

The second chart is the average and median sales prices for these very same homes.

This chart truly exemplifies the impact of the steep incline in home mortgage interest rates that started in the second half of 2022. Home prices in Alder Manor literally fell off a cliff in 2023, but recovered quickly in 2024 and 2025. If sales hold steady, 2026 will be another strong year for home prices in this neighborhood.

The other metric that is worth checking when determining value is the average price-per-square-foot of those homes that sold. That data is below.

When you see this kind of divergence of data, where the average home price is at the high end, but the average price per square foot is near the bottom, it implies that the homes being sold in that neighborhood are on the larger side.

Let's see if that theory holds true:

With a yearly average that tops 2,200 square feet, Alder Manor is indeed home to some of the larger homes in all of San Carlos.

Key Takeaways on Alder Manor:

There's a lot to love about this great San Carlos neighborhood:

• Since you are not competing with buyers who must be in the San Carlos School District, you may be able to buy a home with a little less competition.
• Just like Beverly Terrace, Alder Manor is characterized by larger lots and larger, more modern homes.
• It's home to one of the best hiking parks in all of San Carlos: Eaton Park.
• Alder Manor was the second-most expensive neighborhood in San Carlos in 2025, as measured by both average and median price.

I hope you enjoyed this series of neighborhood check-ins. I love digging into this data because, without fail, there's always a surprising nugget or two to be found. Above all, the numbers validate why so many people choose to call San Carlos “home”.