The ‘Million-Dollar Cities' List In San Diego County – Is Yours On It?

By Editor, Times of San Diego

February 18, 2022

A San Diego County community has joined a prestigious list, according to new real estate data – places where the typical home value has reached $1 million.

Six local cities have already reached that status – Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, Coronado, Solana Beach, Encinitas and Carlsbad – but a new one has been admitted to the million-dollar club, Zillow researchers say.

Based on a dive into December data in the hot real estate market, the new community is (drum roll, please):

Poway, where the typical home value has risen to $1.075 million, up 27% in the past year.

As for the other local “million-dollar cities,” the latest values are:

• Rancho Santa Fe – $3.5 million, up 27.6% over last year.
• Del Mar – $3.3 million, up 26.1% over last year.
• Coronado – $2.48 million, up 20.8% over last year.
• Solana Beach – $1.99 million, up 24.5% over last year.
• Encinitas – $1.7 million, up 29.4% over last year.
• Carlsbad – $1.35 million, up 32.1% over last year.

Meanwhile, the typical home value across the greater San Diego metropolitan area has reached $837,420, according to Zillow.

Across the country, a record 146 U.S. cities became new “million-dollar cities” in 2021, according to Zillow data. That’s a jump of nearly 44%.

There are now 481 cities in which the typical home value is at least $1 million. If current rates of appreciation hold, 49 more could join the $1 million club by mid-year.

The majority of million-dollar cities are clustered within a few large coastal regions; the San Francisco and New York metro areas lead the way with 76 million-dollar cities each.

The Los Angeles metro is third with 57 cities, and San Jose is fourth with 22.

In total, 60% of all million-dollar cities lie within eight metro areas, with almost half in California.

“The surge in demand for housing last year sent home values skyrocketing, even in places where prices already were sky-high, and that helped tip a record number of cities into the million-dollar club,” said Jeff Tucker, Zillow senior economist.

He noted that California, Massachusetts and New York led the pack for the most new cities with home values above $1 million. Idaho and Montana entered the list for the first time.

Indian Creek, Florida, an exclusive 300-acre island in Biscayne Bay in Miami, is the most expensive city in the country, with a typical home value exceeding $28 million. The celebrity enclave has a total population of fewer than 100 residents.

In the No. 2 spot is Atherton, a small town on the San Francisco Peninsula where the typical home value sits around $7.7 million.

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