More Cities Join $1 Million Median Home Value Rankings

A fairly exclusive club is about to get bigger, and although home buyers probably won’t like it, jumbo mortgage lenders probably will.

Zillow Inc., Seattle, said over the next year, 23 more cities across the U.S. will make Zillow’s “$1 Million City List,” defined as a city with a median home value of $1 million or more.

The U.S. currently has 197 $1 million cities, with 33 of those breaking the seven-figure threshold in just the past 12 months, Zillow said.

Over the past year, Zillow said U.S. home values rose by more than 8 percent to $217,300. The Zillow analysis said while home values in the U.S. are expected to rise by nearly 7 percent over the next year, some hot markets, especially in California, are expected to have home-value appreciation in the double digits.

For example, the San Francisco metro is forecasted to gain seven $1 million cities by June 2019, with Fairfax, East Palo Alto and Broadmoor Village expected to appreciate the most among those cities. San Francisco currently has 46 $1 million cities, more than any other metro in the analysis.

Zillow said the Los Angeles metro is expected to gain five new $1 million cities in the next year; the New York metro will gain three. Boston, Seattle and San Jose will each see two cities appreciate to a median home value of $1 million or more in the next year.

“The number of million-dollar cities has doubled over the past five years. These markets tend to be affluent and exclusive suburbs with very strict building restrictions in communities adjacent to finance and tech hubs,” said Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas, “Although home value growth is expected to slow over the next year, particularly at the high end of the housing market, the number of cities where more than half of homes are valued in the seven digits is expected to jump to a new all-time high over the next 12 months.”

Biltmore Forest, N.C., in the Asheville metro, is forecast to be the first $1 million city in North Carolina. The current median home value in Biltmore Forest is $978,900. Zillow forecasts the median home value in Biltmore Forest to rise 2.7 percent over the next year, to $1.05 million. Anna Maria, Fla., in the Sarasota metro, is expected to become the first $1 million city there. The current median home value is $964,200 and is forecast to reach $1.09 within the next year.