3 of Top 10 Most Expensive Counties are In Southern California

California continues to dominate the high end real estate market across the United States.

After analyzing the NAR (National Association of Realtors) Realtor Luxury Home Index, Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Barbara are in the top 10 counties in the nation.

In Los Angeles the fall(September) 2016 sales price of the top 5% as defined by the luxury tier was $1.88 million, climbing from $1.83m the year before and 33% within 5 years from 2011. The increase in price in LA county has also been steady while the other two counties saw their 5 year lows in 2012.

In Orange County, the fall 2016 sales price of the top 5% topped $1.76m. The fall 2015 luxury tier sales topped $1.67m. Not to be outdone, in approximately 5 years, Orange County saw a growth of 38.5% growth in luxury home price from the 2012 low(March) of $1.27m.

Santa Barbara actually saw a high of $2.67m back in May of 2015. In September of 2016, this price has actually fallen about 11.6% to $2.36m. However, when compared to the 5 year low of $1.69m in 2012, Santa Barbara has in fact made the most significant gains of nearly $1m when comparing highs and lows between 2011-2016.

Other notable counties in Northern California - San Mateo, San Francisco - prices rose by 9% and 6.8%, respectively. Across the bay in Marin, prices fell by 7.1%. These three counties have indexed prices of $2.15m-$2.38m. Santa Clara’s prices closely Los Angeles at $1.83.

While Manhattan is king with $3.85m averages, Brooklyn was at $1.44m, Boston at $1.16m. Their growth rates since 2013 (the rebound of the economy) have been more than 40%, 30%, and 20%, respectively.