Berkeley Hills Named Second 'Hottest' Neighborhood in Region

By Dixie Jordan and Charles Burress

The Berkeley Hills area ranks second among the "hottest neighborhoods of 2014" in the greater San Francisco area, according to the real estate company Redfin.com.

It placed #2 on the site's recently released list, just behind Bernal Heights North Slope in San Francisco and just ahead of lower Piedmont.

Bernal Heights North Slope was first also in the entire nation, ahead of national #2 Eagle Rock in the Los Angeles area and #3 Morningside-Lenox Park in the Atlanta area.

The median home price for Berkeley Hills was $876,500, compared with $982,500 for Bernal Heights North Slope and $1,150,000 for lower Piedmont.

Views by website users show that interest in the Berkeley Hills has doubled over the past year, Redfin says.

"We based the rankings on the places that are trending among the millions of homebuyers searching on Redfin.com leading into the new year," Redfin spokesperson Cori Ramsey said in an email.

"We also collected Redfin agents’ insights into which neighborhoods have seen the biggest growth in popularity among today’s homebuyers," Ramsey said.

Neighborhoods included on the list tend to have highly rated schools, short commutes and affordable prices, she said.

You may read the Redfin report here (you'll need to scroll down to "San Francisco").

Like Berkeley Patch on Facebook | Follow @BerkeleyPatch on Twitter