Cities Where Homes Cost An Average Of $1 Million Or More Have Doubled In The Last 5 Years

As the real estate market continues to scorch higher, part and parcel with the brutal inflation the nation is facing, the idea of million dollar homes is now becoming commonplace.

Houses over $1 million have become “the norm” in 481 U.S. cities, according to new analysis from Bloomberg. This is double the number from five years ago, the report says, citing Zillow data released Wednesday.

146 cities reached the million dollar tier in 2021, the report says – it’s most ever in a single year. 10 years ago, the number of cities with million dollar average home costs was just 126. 

And while some asset classes have pulled back thanks to the Fed’s hawkish (sounding) stance, real estate has endured. Home prices were up 19.6% last year, the report says. Idaho, Montana and Tennessee all had cities break the million dollar mark for the first time in 2021. California, Massachusetts and New York all had the most new cities with million dollar average home values.

Newcomers to the list, per Bloomberg, include:

• Garrison, Montana: Avg. home prices +26% in 2021 to $1.2 million.
• Gallatin Gateway, Montana: Avg. home prices +33% to $1.2 million.
• West Glacier, Montana: Avg. home prices +23% to $1.2 million.
• Ketchum, Idaho: Avg. home prices +32% to $1.1 million.
• Sun Valley, Idaho: Avg. home prices +31% to $1 million.
• Hayden Lake, Idaho: Avg. home prices +47% to $1 million.
• Brentwood, Tennessee: Avg. home prices +37% to $1 million.

49 more cities are poised to break the $1 million barrier this year if price trends hold, the report says. 

Florida’s Indian Creek Village – a 300-acre island with less than 100 residents – is the most expensive, with an average home value at $28.3 million.  Atherton on the San Francisco Peninsula came in second, with an average home value of $7.7 million. 

Jeff Tucker, senior economist for Zillow, told Bloomberg: “We’re seeing how the geography of wealth in the U.S. has begun to shift, as 2021 was the first year for both Idaho and Montana to place any cities on this list, and now those Western states boast three million-dollar cities each.”