Priciest ZIP Codes Down, Not Out

This year, home prices fell in the nation's most exclusive neighborhoods (duh, ya think?).  But this post is really not about the writer at Forbes lack of mental capacity.

In Alpine, New Jersey, which tops Forbes' magazine's list of America's 500 Most Expensive ZIP Codes, home prices declined 23 percent in the last year.

Overall, asking prices in the ZIP codes on Forbes' list dropped an average of 7 percent. Prices are only rising in a few areas. For instance, on New York's Upper West Side, ZIP code 10023, prices rose 4 percent in the last year.

Forbes' list was compiled by Altos Research, a real estate data collection and research firm that tracks about 90 percent of all real estate transactions.

Based on Altos' figures, here are the country's 10 most-expensive ZIP codes and the median home prices there:

1. 07620, Alpine, New Jersey, Median Home Price: $4,139,041
2. 94027, Atherton, California: $3,849,133
3. 10014, New York, New York: $3,521,514
4. 91008, Duarte, California: $3,444,773
5. 90210, Beverly Hills, California: $3,367,167
6. 92067, Rancho Santa Fe, California: $3,362,493
7. 93108, Santa Barbara, California: $3,284,652
8. 94024, Los Altos Hills, California: (median unavailable - Gee, I bet less than 3.2 million though)
9. 10065, New York, New York: $3,176,534
10. 07926, Brookside, New Jersey: $3,121,115

Actually there are quite a few zip codes that actually make the list every year in the Chicago Area.  I did a post on it last year called the Five Richest Zip Codes in Illinois.  It's always fun to check these places out!

Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (08/27/2009) and Daily Real Estate News (9/1/09)