What Homes Sell For
Recent Sales
Median sale prices, last 12 months · Oct 2025 – Oct 2026
- Houses
- $1,360,000
Sales in MLS neighborhood 3B (Merced Heights) reported to the San Francisco MLS, including off-MLS sales; known below-market-rate (BMR) sales excluded. Medians need at least 5 sales. Updated monthly; deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Compare every neighborhood on the price map or ask us what a specific home is worth.
The Good
- Hilltop living at a price roughly a third below the citywide house median.
- Brooks Park sits on the western knoll with a grassy slope facing the Pacific.
- Quiet, residential streets with almost no through traffic.
- SF State, Stonestown, Lake Merced and I-280 are all close.
The Tradeoffs
- There is no commercial strip. Coffee and groceries mean Ocean Avenue, Stonestown or the car.
- Hills are steep in places, and some homes have more stairs than square footage.
- Most homes date from the 1940s and 1950s, so many are ready for updated systems and kitchens.
Merced Heights is the ridge at the center of the OMI, the Ocean View, Merced Heights and Ingleside neighborhoods. It was slow to develop and filled in mostly after World War II, which gives it a different look from the older neighborhoods around it: postwar houses stepping up and down the hill, with views from the upper blocks.
The Neighborhood Block by Block
Brooks Park on Top
The western knoll of the ridge is Brooks Park, known to old-timers as Kite Hill or Poppy Hill. It has trees, a lawn that faces the ocean and the kind of view people pay extra for elsewhere. Merced Heights Playground is nearby for anyone shorter than four feet.
The View From Brooks Park. photo: matt fuller
A Postwar Neighborhood
Only a handful of homes stood here before World War II. Most of what you see went up in the 1940s and 1950s: single-family houses, many attached, many with garages under the living space, arranged along streets that follow the hill.
Streamline Moderne in Merced Heights. photo: matt fuller
A Middle-Class Neighborhood With a History
In the postwar years many Black families who had come west in the Great Migration were able to buy here when other neighborhoods kept them out, and Merced Heights became a middle-class neighborhood. Neighbors formed the Merced Heights Neighborhood Association in 1961, and the neighborhood’s civic streak is still there.
Looking North to Marin From the Top of the Hill. photo: matt fuller
The Longer Story
The Homes in Detail
Mostly single-family houses from the 1940s and 1950s, a mix of row houses and some older detached homes. Upper-floor living over a garage is the standard layout, and homes on the upper blocks can have views west and south. Condos are rare.
A Little History
The ridge was lumped in with surrounding developments for decades, under names such as Lakeview, Columbia Heights and Ocean View, and was mostly empty until after the war. When building finally came, Merced Heights became one of the few San Francisco neighborhoods where Black families could buy new homes, and it grew into a stable middle-class community.
Getting Around
Muni’s M Ocean View line and several bus routes run around the edges of the hill, and Balboa Park BART is a short ride away. Junipero Serra Boulevard and I-280 make driving south easy.
Questions We Hear
What Are Homes Like in Merced Heights?
Mostly postwar single-family houses, many attached, typically with living space over a garage. Some upper-block homes have views.
How Do People Commute From Merced Heights?
By car via Junipero Serra and I-280, by Muni on the M Ocean View and bus lines, or by BART from Balboa Park.
What Is There to Do in Merced Heights?
Brooks Park and Merced Heights Playground are in the neighborhood. Shopping and restaurants are on Ocean Avenue and at Stonestown, and Lake Merced is close by.
What Is the OMI?
Ocean View, Merced Heights and Ingleside, three neighborhoods with different histories that locals often group together. The MLS files each as its own sub-district in District 3.