Lincoln Highlands

Architectural Appeal

Lincoln Highlands reads as a timeline of how Oakland built on its hills. The 1920s blocks hold period-revival cottages with Tudor gables, stucco Mediterranean facades and a few Craftsman houses; 1939 brought compact plans such as Harmony Home, and 1940 brought Montgomery Ward’s kit-built “Ward-Way” houses. After the war, design turned toward the view, with post-and-beam framing and glass walls opening onto west-facing decks. A well-kept original gives buyers a reason to choose it, as 4167 Lincoln Avenue, a 1958 modernist home, showed when Cush sold it in 2024 for 26% over asking.

Pricing & Market Trends

Lincoln Highlands sells quickly. In November 2025, Redfin recorded a median sale price of $1,242,500, up 3.5% from a year earlier, with homes selling after an average of 17 days, down from 30. Redfin rated the neighborhood “most competitive” (93 of 100): the average home sold roughly 13% over asking, and the fastest-moving homes about 28% over. With only about ten sales a month, view, condition and usable lot drive the spread, so preparation and presentation weigh heavily.

Space, Style & Livability

Most homes run 1,000 to 3,000 square feet with two to four bedrooms, and plans follow the slope: on downhill lots, garages and bonus rooms sit below the main floor and decks stand in for level yards. Confirm that any finished lower level was permitted. Lots run near 5,000 square feet on gentler streets and from 7,000 to more than 11,000 on steeper ones. As across the Oakland hills, buyers review wildfire-hazard maps, insurance and, on slopes, soils and drainage.

Who Lives Here

Buyers come for Bay views at prices centered near $1.2 million, single-family houses with private outdoor space, and a quick reach to Highway 13 and I-580. Hillside lower levels make flexible home offices, studios or guest suites. Head-Royce, Sequoia Elementary and the Dimond’s grocers and cafés are close by. Owners tend to stay for decades, so well-kept original houses come to market only occasionally.

Schools

Lincoln Highlands is in Oakland Unified (OUSD), which assigns students by home address and also runs an enrollment-options process for families who want to apply elsewhere. Sequoia Elementary (TK–5) sits on lower Lincoln Avenue at 3730 Lincoln, where parents run a “walking school bus” that escorts students along set routes. Head-Royce School, an independent K–12 school founded in 1887, is at 4315 Lincoln Avenue. Bishop O’Dowd High School and Redwood Day School are other independent options a short drive away. Middle and high school assignments vary by address; confirm the current assignment for a specific address with the district.

Getting Around

Highway 13 forms the neighborhood’s upper edge and I-580 runs below it, so most drives start with a freeway on-ramp a minute or two away. Downtown Oakland is about 5 miles west, San Francisco roughly 15 miles across the Bay Bridge, and Oakland International Airport about 25 minutes by car. AC Transit lines 39 and 57 serve the Sequoia Elementary area on lower Lincoln Avenue, and Fruitvale BART is a short drive. Walking is best on the lower blocks near the Dimond; Redfin scores the neighborhood 51 for walkability, and most households rely on a car.

Cost of Living

Home prices center near $1.2 million (Redfin median, November 2025). Property taxes in Alameda County follow Proposition 13, about 1% of assessed value plus local bonds and assessments; a sample 2024–25 parcel here carried a total rate of about 1.26%. Oakland adds its own real property transfer tax at sale, on top of the county’s. Utilities come from PG&E and EBMUD, and a sale may require an EBMUD sewer lateral compliance certificate. On hillside lots, price homeowners insurance and vegetation upkeep early; your agent can fold all of it into a net sheet.