Los Angeles has always been home to some of the most expensive real estate in the world. But forget about 90210: Duarte 91008 is the new hot spot for multi-million dollar mansions.
Bradbury, California (91008)
Just northeast of downtown Los Angeles, Duarte 91008, is a small suburb near the Los Angeles National Forest. The average cost of a home in this tony town is an enormous $ 4,276,462, which makes it the most expensive housing market in the US. It topped the Forbes’ annual list of most expensive U.S. ZIP Codes.
There are 1,391 people living in the 91008 ZIP code, and only 12 homes currently on the market. So a high-priced single listing (such as the mammoth nine-room, built this year, which sold at $19.8 million) is enough to tip the average price skyward.
Duarte’s rise – for which the 91008 ZIP was created in 2000 to adjust with a growing population – shows that wealth is still attracted to large cities, even though post-bubble housing prices have fallen.
The major markets of California is essentially in a chronic housing shortage. On the number of people who want homes, there is always an order of magnitude fewer number of available homes than in any other places. More than half of the locations in the ranking of 500 U.S. most expensive zip codes are in California.
Luxury Slump slows
The average price of U.S luxury home continues to slide, but not as fast as it did in 2009. the average home price of 500 high-end zip codes fell by 5%, to $1.2 Million, from the same period last year. In 2009 the market on the list showed a drop of 7%.
About 35% of ZIP codes in the list saw average prices increase or remain flat, but that’s probably because more expensive homes come on the market, while more affordable housing continues to stumble.
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Behind the numbers
Real estate trends are highly localized. Most cities are a collection of mini-housing markets, so that led to the granular level to determine which neighborhoods are actually increasing.
The collected data were more than 20,000 zip codes and were all ranked to find the 500 most expensive in the country. Each zip code was ranked based on the average asking price of single-family homes and condominiums, estimating the price based on the combination of the homes in the market.
Most Expensive Zip in Devastated Markets
Some housing markets, on the ZIP code level, contrast dramatically with their surroundings. Miami, where housing prices have dropped and foreclosures continue to climb, still contains some of the most expensive homes in the country, with four ZIPs on the list, including the 37th, Fisher Island 33109 which boasts an average home sale price of $2,295,291.
With 14% unemployment rate and the highest level of foreclosures in the US, there’s still one ZIP on the list in the state of Nevada: Lake Tahoe 89451, taking the 389th spot.
The list indicates a slowing slide in the high-end market, but if a wave of foreclosures hits luxury homes such as Carmel CA homes, as some experts predict will happen, that downward slope could quicken up.
Here is full list of 2010 top ten most expensive zip codes in the US:
- Duarte/Bradbury, CA (91008) – Median Home Price: $4,276,462
- Atherton, CA (94027) – Median Home Price: $4,010,200
- Rolling Hills, CA (90274) – Median Home Price: $3,892,456
- Alpine, N.J. (07620) – Median Home Price: $3,814,885
- New York, N.Y. (10014) – Median Home Price: $3,785,445
- Beverly Hills, CA (90210) – Median Home Price: $3,684,150
- New York, N.Y. (10065) – Median Home Price: $3,626,001
- Belvedere/Tiburon, CA (94920) – Median Home Price: $3,283,269
- New York, N.Y. (10012) – Median Home Price: $3,221,371
- Santa Barbara/Montecito, CA (93108) – Median Home Price: $3,151,220
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