On June 1, developer Jeff Stone went before the Lafayette Planning Commission and asked to build fewer homes at 1001 Oak Hill Road. The City Council had approved 90 condos there in June 2025. Stone came back with 85. As Bay Area Telegraph reported, he told commissioners the change reflected construction realities and feedback from buyers at Blue Oak, Diamond Construction's recently finished condo building on Hough Avenue. Some smaller units were combined or enlarged, which left fewer homes overall and more three-bedroom layouts. Parking dropped from 178 spaces to 155. The commission approved the change unanimously.
When a developer gives up five sellable units in a town with this little new for-sale supply, the market is telling it something. Small units are not what downtown Lafayette lacks. It lacks house-sized, single-level space within walking distance of BART and Mt. Diablo Boulevard, and the buildings now going up are being designed and priced for the buyer who can pay for that.
What Blue Oak taught the next building
Blue Oak is small: 20 condos in a four-story building, three of them below market rate, according to the city. Its official floor plans run from 738 to 2,579 square feet and include both two- and three-bedroom homes. In early April, a project partner told Bay Area Telegraph that eight buyers had committed and the first move-in was expected later that month.
By July, the same outlet said the homes were "selling well." It also described the likely buyers as long-time residents who bought in Lafayette or nearby towns decades ago and now own homes larger than they need, with a lot of equity. In the outlet's words, many in this group want to downsize without leaving the community and move into a single-level home near shops and restaurants with no yard to maintain. Bay Area Telegraph's July report offered that profile as a characterization of the target buyer. It did not count actual buyers.
Together, those two reports explain the Oak Hill redesign. Blue Oak's buyers were the developer's first real test of downtown demand. The next building, from the same builder, came back with more three-bedroom plans.
Four buildings, one direction
Here is where Lafayette's downtown for-sale condo pipeline stands as of mid-October 2026:
| Project | Builder or applicant | Homes | Below-market-rate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Oak, Hough Avenue | Diamond Construction | 20 condos | 3 | Completed, opened spring 2026 |
| The Brant | Lennar | 66 condos | 10 | Completed, actively selling |
| Oak Hill, 1001 Oak Hill Road | Diamond Construction | 85 condos, cut from 90 | 11 | Broke ground June 25, 2026; completion targeted for summer 2028 |
| Mount Diablo Condominiums, 3458 Mt. Diablo Blvd. | OUTDO Lafayette LLC | 30 for-sale homes, cut from 31 | 3 | Revised plan approved October 5, 2026 |
Both projects still under development have trimmed their unit counts after approval. Construction is now plain to see downtown. The city's September 18 roundup reported that Diamond Construction had put up a crane at 1001 Oak Hill Road for the 85-unit, seven-story mixed-use building, which will have commercial space on the ground floor. By October 2, the city was listing Oak Hill among its three most visible construction projects, along with the Park Theater and Cancer Support Community.
On Mount Diablo Boulevard, the October 5 Planning Commission considered OUTDO Lafayette's request to take its approved six-story, 31-unit building to seven stories and 30 for-sale homes: 27 market-rate, two very low-income and one moderate-income. The request also added two on-site parking spaces and removed one commercial tenant space. According to the official action agenda, the commission found the project exempt from CEQA and approved it subject to conditions on a 6–0 vote. The city's record does not explain the change in unit count. The building does get taller while losing a home.
The per-foot math runs above the houses
Square footage alone suggests a downtown condo would be the cheaper way into Lafayette. The prices say otherwise.
At The Brant, Lennar's project page lists the building as actively selling, with plan prices from $822,880 to $1,912,880 across ten single-level plans of 962 to 2,016 square feet. Dividing each displayed price by its floor area gives roughly $856 to $993 per square foot. These are the builder's displayed plan prices, not recorded sales.
Blue Oak sits higher. Bay Area Telegraph's July report found public listings from about $1.36 million for a 926-square-foot two-bedroom to more than $3.5 million for a larger pending unit. That pending unit was a 2,569-square-foot three-bedroom with 2.5 baths, a $929 monthly HOA fee and a list price of $3,532,375, which works out to $1,375 per square foot.
For comparison, detached single-family homes in Lafayette closed at a median of $841 per square foot over the 12 months ending September 30, 2026, according to Contra Costa Association of Realtors MLS data. The median detached home sold in that period was 2,579 square feet, almost the same size as that Blue Oak three-bedroom.
This is not a like-for-like comparison. A new condo building with a fitness room, a community lounge and a shared dining area is a different product from a detached resale house. Still, the gap makes clear what these buyers are paying for. It isn't space, which they can get for less per foot in a detached house. It's single-level living, walkability and new construction, all scarce in this town, and the profile Bay Area Telegraph describes fits a buyer who can fund that premium with equity from a larger home.
The resale condo market runs on a different clock
If new downtown condos were simply Lafayette's entry-level option, the town's existing condo stock would move the way detached homes do. It doesn't.
Over the 12 months ending September 30, 2026, Lafayette closed 40 attached sales, 35 condos and five townhomes, according to CCAR MLS data. The median attached sale was $1,272,500, down 10.7% from $1,425,000 a year earlier. Median market time was 40 days, against 10 days for detached homes. Attached inventory stood at 2.7 months of supply in early October, compared with 1.65 months for detached homes. Attached homes sold at a median of $830 per square foot over that period, below the per-foot figures on new product at The Brant and Blue Oak.
These medians do not show that new buildings are pulling buyers away from resale units, and the attached sample is small. They do show two separate markets under one label. A resale condo in Lafayette is a slower, more negotiable purchase. A new single-level flat downtown is priced as a premium product for a buyer who is usually trading out of a house. For a buyer comparing the two, the 40-day median is useful information on its own: in this segment, there is usually time to ask questions that a 10-day detached market rarely allows.
Below-market-rate homes are part of every building
Each building in the pipeline includes income-restricted homes, so the downtown condo market has a separate entry point that runs through a drawing, not a bidding war. At The Brant, the city counts 10 below-market-rate condominiums out of 66, in one-, two- and three-bedroom sizes. The program administrator HouseKeys currently lists a moderate-income two-bedroom there at $511,046 with $825.52 in monthly HOA dues, through Opportunity Drawing #570. The late-entry deadline is October 15, 2026 at 5 p.m. Oak Hill kept all 11 of its below-market-rate homes when it cut its unit count.
What decides the next round of buildings
The rules that shape future downtown projects come up for decision this fall. The city has scheduled an October 19, 2026 Planning Commission hearing on downtown density changes, including raising some areas from 60 to 65 units per acre and creating 45-unit-per-acre designations elsewhere. The City Council is tentatively expected to take up the changes in November. They remain proposals until adopted.
Key dates:
- October 15, 2026: Late-entry deadline for The Brant's Opportunity Drawing #570.
- October 19, 2026: Planning Commission hearing on downtown density changes.
- November 2026: Tentative City Council consideration of those changes.
- Summer 2028: Targeted completion for Oak Hill's 85 condos.
Higher allowed density does not dictate unit size. Oak Hill's own history shows that: the city rezoned the site, the developer proposed 90 units, and buyer feedback then took it down to 85 with more three-bedroom plans.
FAQ
Are Lafayette's new downtown condos less expensive than a house? Not per square foot. The Brant's displayed plan prices calculate to roughly $856 to $993 per square foot, and a large Blue Oak three-bedroom was listed at $1,375 per square foot in July 2026. Detached homes closed at a median of $841 per square foot over the 12 months ending September 30, 2026. Total prices can be lower because the units are smaller.
How many of Blue Oak's and The Brant's units have sold? No public count is available. Bay Area Telegraph reported in July 2026 that Blue Oak was "selling well," and Lennar lists The Brant as actively selling. Neither figure is a tally of sold or remaining units.
When will Oak Hill and Mount Diablo Condominiums be finished? Oak Hill broke ground June 25, 2026, with completion targeted for summer 2028. Mount Diablo Condominiums received approval for its revised seven-story, 30-unit plan on October 5, 2026. No completion date has been published.
The Anthony Riggins Team works with Lafayette homeowners who are weighing a move from a larger house into a single-level home downtown. That includes timing the sale of the current home against new-construction delivery dates, and pricing what a resale condo's longer market time means for an offer. If that move is on your calendar, we can walk through the numbers on both sides with you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
