While Manhattan remains the priciest luxury real estate market in the U.S., seven of the top 10 counties with the most expensive luxury homes all reside in California. According to the Realtor.com’s Luxury Homes Index, San Mateo led the way with an average price of $2.384 million during the first half of the year. It was followed by San Francisco ($2.383 million), Marin ($2.154 million) and Santa Clara ($1.83 million).
In its report of the survey, Mansionglobal.com noted the luxury real estate market in San Mateo and San Francisco were up considerably from a year earlier. In San Mateo, luxury home prices were up 9% while San Francisco saw a 6.8% increase compared to the first half of last year.
Bay area real estate sources contacted by Mansionglobal.com added some interesting perspective to the findings. For example, Justin Fickerson of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing San Francisco” noted “$20 million homes will sit there for longer.
“That market is softening a bit as buyers are nervous about the economy and the election, but the $3 million market is still very active,” Fichelson said. He also noted in San Mateo and Marin, sales for homes in the $3 million to $5 million market are selling well.
“Around $3 million won’t buy you a huge house in these areas, but you can certainly pick up a cute little house,” Fichelson said.
It wasn’t just Northern California with the most expensive luxury homes. Los Angeles also ranked in the top 10 with an average price of $1.337 million. That was up 3.3% from a year earlier and a 20.8% increase since 2013. The other California counties to crack the top 10 were Santa Barbara ($1.68 million) and Orange ($1.27 million).
The Realtor.com Luxury Homes Index also broke out the “hottest luxury housing market in 2016.” These are counties that saw the biggest rise in the rankings. Two California counties made this list. San Bernardino rose from 113th most expensive market to No. 73, while Sacramento rose to No. 100 from 130.