I can tell you in Los Altos hills and Los Altos up here, there are lots of 60-100 yr old shacks next to huge new dream homes and it looks very very odd.
I used to live in the bay area so I understand what you mean by this. Still, this doesn't have any negative effect on Los Altos's reputation.
In contrast, consider the neighborhoods of Evergreen & Silver Creek in San Jose. These neighborhoods have large & new houses that look very nice. But that's all they have going for them: a nice house on an "average location". I think, in the long run, Evergreen & Silver Creek will "slip" because the houses there will become older.
Santaluz is very overpriced compared to more established areas like the Covenant and Fairbanks Ranch.
You are right. One of the reasons is that speculation is more prevalent in Santa Luz (speculators love new houses, they lock in the price when they sign the contract, hoping prices will go up during the 6 months it takes to build the house).
The downside is that almost every house I have seen there is in desperate need of an extreme makeover.
This is not a bad thing because: once you "makeover" the house, you'll have a nice house in a great neighborhood. Where as, with Santa Luz, it's all down hill from the time you purchase the house.
