Rolling Hills Ranked Among Priciest Zip Codes In Nation: Report

ROLLING HILLS, CA — 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.

For the first time in state history, the median home price rose above $800,000 this year. 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.

Nationwide, Rolling Hills ranked No. 53 with a median home sales price of $2,118,000.

In 2020, at a $1,625,000 median sale price, Rolling Hills' 90274 ranked as the No. #75 priciest zip code in the U.S., according to last year’s report.

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 wrote in this year's PropertyShark report.

While 70 percent of the most expensive zip codes are in California, 47 percent of them are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to PropertyShark. And 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.

This year, Los Angeles County remained the priciest county in the state, with 21 of its zip codes making the list. The county was ranked No. 2, tied with New York, with 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 ultra-expensive zip codes that cover high-profile tech centers such as Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale," according to PropertyShark.

Here's how the top 10 priciest California zip codes ranked nationally:

• No. 1 Atherton, San Mateo County; $7,475,000
• No. 4 Ross, Marin County; Median Price: $4,583,000
• No. 6 Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County; $4,125,000
• No. 7 Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County; $4,103,000
• No. 8 Santa Monica, Los Angeles County; $4,058,000
• No. 9 Los Altos, Santa Clara County; $4,052,000
• No. 11 Los Altos, Santa Clara County; $3,856,000
• No. 12 Palo Alto, Santa Clara County; $3,800,000
• No. 14 Huntington Beach, Orange County; $3,625,000
• No. 15 Newport Beach, Orange County; $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 slot no. 21 on the national ranking, with both cities reporting a $3.2 million median home sales price. Both cities have experienced a 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, with Ross reporting 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 accounts 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 up to nearly $828,000, according to recent data.

"I was actually a little surprised that it surged past the previous peak," Wei said. "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 are what pushed the state's median home price over that threshold in the spring. But at the tail end of the summer, home prices were still inching up, though at a much slower rate, Oscar Wei, lead economist with CAR, previously told Patch.

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

"You probably have noticed, not just from news reports or from, 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