Dixie Cat
10-14-2008, 01:46 PM
America's most expensive ZIP codes
Find out which locales are the priciest of the country's prime spots.
By Matt Woolsey, Forbes
More from MSN Real Estate & Forbes.com
Forbes.com: America’s fastest-selling ZIP codes (http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/06/zips-sales-fast-forbeslife-cx_ls_1006zipsales_slide_2.html?partner=msnre)
Slide show: World's priciest luxury real-estate markets (http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=7911964)
When dealing with the neighbors turns ugly (http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Article_sm.aspx?cp-documentid=10173069)
It's been a troubling year for Florida's homeowners. Many have seen their property values plummet — and no bottom is in sight.
Prices dropped by 20% in Miami, 18% in Tampa and 17% in Orlando over the past year, according to the National Association of Realtors, and the Sunshine State ranks at the top of the national foreclosure heap, along with Michigan and California. The troubling news on the horizon: a new round of Option ARM loans will reset next year.
But for residents of Fisher Island, Fla. — a small community (population 475) of ritzy condos and sprawling homes that is famous for its Vanderbilt mansion as well as its golf, tennis and yachting clubs — it's been a pretty good year. Prices on the island, which sits in the Miami Beach archipelago, rose by $525,000 over the last year, making 33109 the most expensive ZIP code in America, with a median home-sale price of $3.85 million.
It edges out even smaller Alpine, N.J. (07620), which tied for the top spot in last year's list. Prices in Alpine increased by $340,000 last year.
Those communities are not alone. Most of the ZIP codes on our list saw strong price appreciation. Location is behind some of the climbs. There just aren't that many beachfront lots in Santa Monica, Calif., (90402) or Nantucket, Mass., (02554) and as long as there's money in tech, the Los Altos (94024) and Los Gatos (95030) hills above Silicon Valley are going to command top dollar. In a year when most conventional wisdom about real estate has been proved wrong, the well-worn notion that the luxury sector is resistant to national slowing has held.
Behind the numbers
California owns Forbes’ list, posting half of the top 500 ZIPs. There are the perennial listings such as Ross (94957) and Atherton (94027) and the famous Beverly Hills neighborhoods of 90210, 90212 and 90211, and some cities that have been hammered by home price declines. In Rancho Santa Fe (92067), a well-heeled suburb of San Diego, home prices fell by $225,000 last year, a loss that's bigger than the average home value in America. In sum, 40% of the California ZIP codes on Forbes’ list saw price declines, compared with 30% for the non-California ZIPs.
How a prolonged decline in the finance sector will affect next year's list is unknown, but there's already been slowing in prime areas around New York that depend on Wall Street cash. Amagansett (11930), on Long Island — home to mansions, sailboats and big cars — fell $375,000 this year to $1.675 million. Great Neck, N.Y. (11024) — the model for F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby” — dropped $310,000 last year to $1.03 million.
Find out which locales are the priciest of the country's prime spots.
By Matt Woolsey, Forbes
More from MSN Real Estate & Forbes.com
Forbes.com: America’s fastest-selling ZIP codes (http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/06/zips-sales-fast-forbeslife-cx_ls_1006zipsales_slide_2.html?partner=msnre)
Slide show: World's priciest luxury real-estate markets (http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=7911964)
When dealing with the neighbors turns ugly (http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Article_sm.aspx?cp-documentid=10173069)
It's been a troubling year for Florida's homeowners. Many have seen their property values plummet — and no bottom is in sight.
Prices dropped by 20% in Miami, 18% in Tampa and 17% in Orlando over the past year, according to the National Association of Realtors, and the Sunshine State ranks at the top of the national foreclosure heap, along with Michigan and California. The troubling news on the horizon: a new round of Option ARM loans will reset next year.
But for residents of Fisher Island, Fla. — a small community (population 475) of ritzy condos and sprawling homes that is famous for its Vanderbilt mansion as well as its golf, tennis and yachting clubs — it's been a pretty good year. Prices on the island, which sits in the Miami Beach archipelago, rose by $525,000 over the last year, making 33109 the most expensive ZIP code in America, with a median home-sale price of $3.85 million.
It edges out even smaller Alpine, N.J. (07620), which tied for the top spot in last year's list. Prices in Alpine increased by $340,000 last year.
Those communities are not alone. Most of the ZIP codes on our list saw strong price appreciation. Location is behind some of the climbs. There just aren't that many beachfront lots in Santa Monica, Calif., (90402) or Nantucket, Mass., (02554) and as long as there's money in tech, the Los Altos (94024) and Los Gatos (95030) hills above Silicon Valley are going to command top dollar. In a year when most conventional wisdom about real estate has been proved wrong, the well-worn notion that the luxury sector is resistant to national slowing has held.
Behind the numbers
California owns Forbes’ list, posting half of the top 500 ZIPs. There are the perennial listings such as Ross (94957) and Atherton (94027) and the famous Beverly Hills neighborhoods of 90210, 90212 and 90211, and some cities that have been hammered by home price declines. In Rancho Santa Fe (92067), a well-heeled suburb of San Diego, home prices fell by $225,000 last year, a loss that's bigger than the average home value in America. In sum, 40% of the California ZIP codes on Forbes’ list saw price declines, compared with 30% for the non-California ZIPs.
How a prolonged decline in the finance sector will affect next year's list is unknown, but there's already been slowing in prime areas around New York that depend on Wall Street cash. Amagansett (11930), on Long Island — home to mansions, sailboats and big cars — fell $375,000 this year to $1.675 million. Great Neck, N.Y. (11024) — the model for F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby” — dropped $310,000 last year to $1.03 million.