CA Is Home To 70% Of The Nation's Priciest ZIP Codes

CALIFORNIA — There's no doubt that housing prices are surging in the Golden State. Across the U.S., California accounts for 70 percent of the priciest real estate markets, according to a new report.

The state's median home price in 2021 rose above the $800,000 benchmark for the first time in state history. In the state's most expensive ZIP codes, median home sales surpassed the $4 million mark for the first ever, according to PropertyShark's "Most Expensive U.S. Zip Codes in 2021" ranking.

Topping that national ranking was Atherton in San Mateo County as the nation's most expensive ZIP code. The city grabbed the No. 1 spot for a fifth consecutive year, recording a $7.5 million median home price.

"Even as another uniquely challenging year — marked by the efforts of tackling the pandemic and boosting the economy — is coming to an end, the U.S. residential market continues to experience vertical price trends," researchers said in this year's PropertyShark report.

Some 70 percent of the most expensive ZIP codes are in California, and 47 percent of them are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to PropertyShark. Almost 30 of the 100 priciest ZIP codes in the country feature median prices higher than $3 million, more than twice as many as in 2020.

Los Angeles County remained the priciest county, with 21 of its ZIP codes making the list. The county was ranked No. 2, tied with New York, for the highest number of expensive ZIP codes, with six ZIP codes ranked nationally.

But Los Angeles County was outdone by the Bay Area's Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, which both contributed 10 ZIP codes to the list. The two counties form "a nearly contiguous supercluster" of ultraexpensive ZIP codes that include high-profile tech centers such as Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale, according to PropertyShark.

The Top 10 Priciest California ZIP Codes Ranked Nationally

• No. 1: Atherton, San Mateo County; median price: $7,475,000.
• No. 4: Ross, Marin County; median price: $4,583,000.
• No. 6: Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County; median price: $4,125,000.
• No. 7: Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County; median price: $4,103,000.
• No. 8: Santa Monica, Los Angeles County; median price: $4,058,000.
• No. 9: Los Altos, Santa Clara County; median price: $4,052,000.
• No. 11: Los Altos, Santa Clara County; median price: $3,856,000.
• No. 12: Palo Alto, Santa Clara County; median price: $3,800,000.
• No. 14: Huntington Beach, Orange County; median price: $3,625,000.
• No. 15: Newport Beach, Orange County; median price: $3,577,000.

See the full report here.

In the Southland, Beverly Hills was the most expensive ZIP code. Both Malibu and the city of Los Angeles tied for 21st place on the national ranking, with both cities reporting a $3.2 million median home sales price. Both cities have experienced rapid price growth since 2019, with both medians rising 25 percent in 2020.

On the other side of the state, Atherton in San Mateo County and Ross in Marin County were the two priciest ZIP codes in Northern California. Ross reported a $4.5 million median home price.

To determine the priciest ZIP codes in the U.S., PropertyShark looked at residential transactions closed between Jan. 1 and Oct. 22 in 127 ZIP codes. The report accounted for condos, co-ops and single- and two-family homes.

In April 2020, California's home prices took a pandemic hit, dropping more than 30 percent. But a year later, median home prices rose above $800,000 for the first time ever, according to a report from the California Association of Realtors.

The Golden State's housing market is still riding an upward trajectory and swiftly outpricing middle-class and low-income residents. In August, the median home price for a single-family home shattered state records again, rising to nearly $828,000, according to recent data.

"I was actually a little surprised that it surged past the previous peak," said Oscar Wei, lead economist with CAR. "After it dipped in July, it actually bounced back and by just a couple of percentage points."

A shortage of housing for sale in the Golden State, low-interest mortgage rates during the pandemic and an increase in demand from the state's highest earners earlier this year pushed the state's median home price over the threshold in the spring. But at the tail end of the summer, home prices were still inching up, though at a much slower rate, Wei said.

Inflation, spurred by a pandemic-wounded economy, also increased home prices, Wei said.

"You probably have noticed, not just from news reports or from ... the media, but also from going to restaurants or going into a gas station, that there has been a little bit of a price increase," Wei said.

READ MORE: CA's Housing Prices Break Records Yet Again