Moving to these neighborhoods will cost you $1 million or more
The million-dollar home? That's so 2015. In many U.S. cities, there's a new metric to describe just how out of reach housing has gotten: The million-dollar neighborhood.
More than 800 neighborhoods across the country have a median home value over $1 million, according to a recent report from Trulia. Nationwide, the share of homes costing $1 million or more has doubled since 2012.
In many coastal cities, the million-dollar home has long been the rule, not the exception. In San Francisco, million-dollar homes have been the majority of real estate sales since 2015. Today, 81 percent of the city's housing stock is valued above $1 million. In San Jose, the figure is 70 percent. Indeed, there isn't a single neighborhood in the San Jose metro area where the median home costs less than $1 million, according to Trulia.
But the phenomenon has increasingly moved inland, Trulia data show. In the last year, more than 100 neighborhoods crossed the million-dollar mark, and three cities gained their first million-dollar neighborhoods: Indianapolis, Austin and Newport, Rhode Island.
"It's not just your LAs, San Franciscos and Long Islands—a lot of cities have these really small enclaves of high-end housing," said Cheryl Young, senior economist at Trulia.
Barton Creek, a suburb in the southwest of Austin, Texas, saw the median home value jump to $1.02 million, up 9% from $935,000 just one year ago. It's a newer gated neighborhood, with many houses built after 2000, according to Young, and immediately west of the area is the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve, a 4,000-acre nature preserve.
"It's a neighborhood that was certainly developed for luxury real estate, and it was just a matter of time until we could attach a million-dollar price tag to the neighborhood itself," said Young.
Crows Nest, near Indianapolis, saw median home prices hit $1.07 million, up from about $977,000 last year.
"It has more of that estate feel. Some of the homes are relatively new, so it's seen as a really tony suburb of Indianapolis," said Young. Trulia currently lists two properties on sale in the neighborhood: a $5 million "European-Inspired Masterpiece" with four bedrooms and six bathrooms on 2.25 acres, and a 5,000-square-foot mansion recently reduced from $1.55 million to $1.43 million.
Newport, Rhode Island, also saw a neighborhood jump the $1 million mark. In Lily-Almy Pond, the median home value increased from $843,000 last year to $1.15 million. The seaside town, once a favored summering spot for Gilded Age magnates, now attracts a mix of retirees, vacationers and everyday wealthy types.