A surf town with a university on the hill, a boardwalk on the sand, and the largest inventory of anywhere we cover.

What it is

Santa Cruz sits at the top of Monterey Bay, an hour and a half round the water from Carmel and forty minutes over the hill from San Jose. It is a surf town first — Steamer Lane below West Cliff Drive is one of the better-known breaks in California — a university town second, and a beach resort third, the Boardwalk having been on that sand since 1907.

East along the coast are Capitola, a small and very pretty seaside village built around a lagoon, Soquel just inland, and Aptos, more suburban and more wooded. Further east again is Watsonville, the agricultural centre of the Pajaro Valley and by some distance the most affordable part of this area.

The housing stock

Everything from West Cliff ocean-front to 1970s tract houses to Victorian cottages in Seabright. Aptos and Soquel bring larger, newer family houses; Capitola brings small, expensive village properties; Watsonville brings genuine value and a different market altogether. Condominiums are more common here than anywhere else on this site.

What to know before you buy

• The commute over Highway 17 to Silicon Valley shapes prices here more than anything local. It is a demanding road in bad weather and it closes.
• Coastal erosion is a live issue on parts of the cliffs. Ask about it directly on anything near the edge.
• Student letting is a significant part of the market near the university and changes the character of certain streets.
• Flood zones matter in parts of the Pajaro and San Lorenzo valleys. Check the maps and the insurance before you commit.