Homes across all price ranges have been flying off the market at a record pace in 2021 thanks to low mortgage rates, pent-up demand and bidding wars. To get an idea of the strong rebound in home prices in the face of a pandemic, real estate data provider Property Shark compiled a list of the most expensive Zip codes across the country.
Even as another uniquely challenging year — marked by the efforts of tackling the pandemic and boosting the economy — is coming to a close, the nation’s residential market continues to experience vertical price trends. For the first time, the rankings include 127 Zip codes due to multiple ties.
The top 10 all surpassed the $4 million threshold, marking a new record. Nationally, 30 Zips have median sale prices higher than $3 million, more than double the number of areas in 2020.
Compiled by calculating median home sale prices instead of listing prices to ensure an accurate picture of market conditions as opposed to selling prices that reflect sellers’ wishes, this year’s edition highlights the competitive residential markets of economically vital urban centers.
The Bay Area, Los Angeles County and New York City yet again have a heavy presence, joined by exclusive pockets of affluence scattered across the country, like Arizona’s Paradise Valley, Washington state’s Medina and Connecticut’s Fairfield County.
California continued to provide the bulk of the country’s most expensive Zip codes. The Golden State originated 70% of the Zip codes on the list, including six of the top 10 priciest. And New York came in second, providing 17 Zip codes in the ranking.
Notably, New York logged three fewer than last year — demonstrating California’s more vertical price trends, as well as the pricing slowdown in New York City’s top markets.
In fact, while 2020 marked the first time that no New York City Zips ranked among the country’s 10 most expensive, 2021 brought another historic first for the East Coast giant: No New York City Zip codes ranked among the 20 priciest in the U.S. this year, with the state represented only by the Hamptons at the top of the ranking.
The East Coast made its presence further known with Massachusetts, home to seven of the top 100 Zips, up from last year’s four. Not only that, but as sales activity improved in Boston’s Back Bay area, Massachusetts claimed the No. 2 most expensive Zip code in the country with 02199’s $5.5 million median sale price, which was only surpassed by California’s Atherton at more than $7 million.