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Home appreciation in Santa Cruz, CA

Over the five years ending 2025, home prices in Santa Cruz, CA grew an average of 5.4% a year.

Price growth at a glance

1-year

+0.5%

2025 over 2024. California: +1.9%.

5-year, per year

+5.4%

Average annual growth, 2020 to 2025. California: +7.2%.

10-year, per year

+4.9%

+61.4% in total since 2015. California: +6.3%.

How does your home compare?

Santa Cruz, CA home prices rose 61.4% over the ten years to 2025, while its ZIP codes ranged from +39.2% to +81.5%. Look up your home to see where it ranks among the homes around it.

Your first analysis is free.

A model-generated estimate and analytical context, not investment advice. Investing? Score any property free

How Santa Cruz, CA compares with California

California averaged +7.2% a year, putting Santa Cruz, CA behind the state overall. For five-year price growth, Santa Cruz, CA ranks 390th out of 409 metros nationwide and 21st out of 28 in California.

Index, 2005 = 100

Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA and California, quarterly house price index rebased to 100 in 2005.
YearSanta Cruz-Watsonville, CACalifornia
2005 Q1100100
2005 Q2106106
2005 Q3111111
2005 Q4114116
2006 Q1116119
2006 Q2117120
2006 Q3114120
2006 Q4113119
2007 Q1112118
2007 Q2112116
2007 Q3110111
2007 Q4108107
2008 Q1105101
2008 Q29993
2008 Q39585
2008 Q49283
2009 Q19082
2009 Q28778
2009 Q38476
2009 Q48477
2010 Q18276
2010 Q28276
2010 Q38276
2010 Q48175
2011 Q17873
2011 Q27771
2011 Q37872
2011 Q47772
2012 Q17771
2012 Q27871
2012 Q37973
2012 Q48074
2013 Q18276
2013 Q28579
2013 Q38983
2013 Q49086
2014 Q19188
2014 Q29490
2014 Q39792
2014 Q49993
2015 Q110094
2015 Q210396
2015 Q310798
2015 Q4108100
2016 Q1109101
2016 Q2111103
2016 Q3115105
2016 Q4116106
2017 Q1117107
2017 Q2120110
2017 Q3121112
2017 Q4122113
2018 Q1125115
2018 Q2125118
2018 Q3128119
2018 Q4126119
2019 Q1127120
2019 Q2129121
2019 Q3129122
2019 Q4129123
2020 Q1129124
2020 Q2129126
2020 Q3130127
2020 Q4132130
2021 Q1135133
2021 Q2143141
2021 Q3150149
2021 Q4156155
2022 Q1160161
2022 Q2168171
2022 Q3165170
2022 Q4167165
2023 Q1161164
2023 Q2164168
2023 Q3165170
2023 Q4166170
2024 Q1170173
2024 Q2165176
2024 Q3167177
2024 Q4169178
2025 Q1167178
2025 Q2169179
2025 Q3171179
2025 Q4168180
2026 Q1172181
2026 Q2172181

Chart through 2026 Q2. Annual growth figures through 2025.

Five-year and ten-year growth rates were similar, at +4.9% a year over ten years and +61.4% in total, suggesting a similar pattern over both periods.

Over this history, home prices peaked in 2006, fell 32.7% to its 2011 low, and regained the 2006 level in 2017.

The strongest year was 2022 at +13.1%, and the weakest was 2008 at -11.7%.

In 2025 alone the index moved +0.5%, against +1.9% for the state.

ZIP codes in Santa Cruz, CA

Over the ten years to 2025, the 12 ZIP codes FHFA measures in this metro ranged from +39.2% in 95033 to +81.5% in 95076, while the metro as a whole rose 61.4%.

Fastest-rising ZIP codes

10-year change

  1. 95076+81.5%
  2. 95062+77.9%
  3. 95065+67.4%
  4. 95005+64.8%
  5. 95073+61.8%

Slowest-rising ZIP codes

10-year change

  1. 95033+39.2%
  2. 95006+48.5%
  3. 95010+51.9%
  4. 95066+54.9%
  5. 95060+56.4%
ZIP codes in Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA ranked by 10-year home-price change through 2025 Column headers are buttons: click to sort, click again to reverse, and a third time to restore the original order.
95076+0.9%+7.0%+6.1%+81.5%
95062+7.6%+7.6%+5.9%+77.9%
95065-0.8%+6.0%+5.3%+67.4%
95005+4.2%+5.7%+5.1%+64.8%
95073-9.1%+6.2%+4.9%+61.8%
95003+0.7%+6.0%+4.9%+61.6%
95018+3.7%+4.4%+4.8%+60.1%
95060-3.9%+4.9%+4.6%+56.4%
95066-2.5%+5.2%+4.5%+54.9%
95010-14.4%+3.9%+4.3%+51.9%
95006+2.6%+3.0%+4.0%+48.5%
95033+3.6%+3.8%+3.4%+39.2%

What a home report shows

Enter an address and you get a score out of 10 for how the home ranks on appreciation potential against comparable homes in its market, with the nearby sales behind it. Here is one saved report.

Example report · saved October 14, 2026

165 N Canal St, Apt 1205, Chicago, IL 60606

Appreciation score

4.1 / 10

Around the median

Where it ranks

Ranks above about 41% of comparable homes in Chicago, IL for appreciation potential.

Price against nearby sales

Priced below most nearby sales, at $300 per square foot across 6 comparable sales.

Read the full example report

Year by year

Annual house price index for Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA and California, 2005 = 100 Column headers are buttons: click to sort, click again to reverse, and a third time to restore the original order.
2005100.0—100.0
2006107.1+7.1%110.2
2007102.7-4.2%104.3
200890.6-11.7%83.4
200980.0-11.7%72.2
201076.3-4.7%70.0
201172.1-5.5%66.4
201272.9+1.1%66.5
201380.2+10.1%74.7
201488.7+10.5%83.6
201597.1+9.5%89.5
2016104.8+8.0%95.9
2017111.5+6.4%102.1
2018117.2+5.1%108.8
2019119.4+1.9%112.3
2020120.7+1.1%117.1
2021135.5+12.2%133.5
2022153.3+13.1%153.8
2023152.2-0.7%155.3
2024156.0+2.5%162.4
2025156.7+0.5%165.5

The 28 measured metros in California

Measured metros in California ranked by 5-year home-price appreciation through 2025 Column headers are buttons: click to sort, click again to reverse, and a third time to restore the original order.
#
1El Centro, CA+7.7%+9.9%+7.8%
2Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA+2.9%+9.2%+6.5%
3San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA+1.9%+9.1%+7.3%
4Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA (metropolitan division)+4.5%+9.0%+6.6%
5Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA+2.1%+9.0%+7.5%
6Visalia, CA+4.3%+9.0%+7.3%
7Bakersfield-Delano, CA+3.5%+8.8%+6.6%
8Hanford-Corcoran, CA+5.2%+8.6%+7.2%
9Fresno, CA+3.1%+8.4%+7.2%
10San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA+3.1%+8.0%+6.3%
11Merced, CA+1.5%+7.9%+7.5%
12Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA (metropolitan division)+2.8%+7.5%+6.6%
13Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA+3.0%+7.5%+5.9%
14Modesto, CA+1.5%+7.1%+7.1%
15Stockton-Lodi, CA+0.6%+6.9%+6.9%
16Salinas, CA-0.2%+6.6%+6.4%
17Yuba City, CA+0.9%+6.5%+7.2%
18Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA+1.3%+6.4%+6.4%
19San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA+0.7%+6.1%+5.1%
20Redding, CA+0.8%+5.7%+5.4%
21Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA+0.5%+5.4%+4.9%
22Vallejo, CA0.0%+5.3%+5.9%
23Napa, CA+1.0%+5.2%+5.2%
24Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley, CA (metropolitan division)-0.1%+4.7%+5.2%
25Chico, CA+2.1%+4.6%+6.0%
26Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA+0.8%+4.6%+4.9%
27San Rafael, CA (metropolitan division)+0.8%+4.5%+3.6%
28San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA (metropolitan division)+0.8%+3.5%+3.7%

Source & method: Metro figures: FHFA quarterly all-transactions index for metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions, annualized as the mean of the four quarterly (NSA) values. State figures: FHFA quarterly all-transactions index, annualized as the mean of the four quarterly (NSA) values. The chart uses quarterly readings, with each series set to 100 in the first quarter of 2005. ZIP figures: FHFA annual five-digit ZIP index (developmental), ZIPs with sufficient transaction history. Missing years are reported as missing by FHFA and are not estimated. Each ZIP is placed in the metro that holds the county with most of its housing units. “5-yr /yr” and “10-yr /yr” are compound annual growth over the window ending 2025; all figures are nominal. Data published by the FHFA House Price Index; this edition compiled 2026-10-17. Educational data, not investment advice.

See the California row in the state rankings, the county rankings, and, for why one metro number hides so much, why two homes in the same ZIP code appreciate differently.

How does your home compare?

See how your home ranks against nearby homes. Your first analysis is free.

Look up your home

Investing? Score any property free

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Measured FHFA data · chart through 2026 Q2