In a real estate market where luxury homes can sell for $ 100 million or more, we've gone a little deaf with just a million worth. But objectively, $ 1 million is still about three times the retail price of the average U.S. home (about $ 350.00) – a price that is out of reach for most.
So what makes a million dollar home? While square footage, build, and finish quality all affect value, two homes that are identical on paper can vary widely in price depending on – you guessed it – location, location, location.
LendingTree recently conducted a study to find out which metropolitan areas in the United States have the highest percentage of homes worth $ 1 million or more. While no area has shown the majority of homes to be worth a million homes, San Jose, California, home of Silicon Valley technicians, came closest – at around 47 percent, and the average home value was also close at: $ 968,800. In San Francisco, another tech hub, more than 36 percent of homes were valued at $ 1 million or more, with a median of $ 840,600.
Metropolitan New York City, which sold a record $ 238 million apartment in 2019, ranked fifth on the list with an average home value of $ 450,900. (If that number seems low, keep in mind that metropolitan areas include not just the cities themselves, but surrounding commuter communities as well.)
The $ 1 million home share exceeded 10 percent in just five metropolitan areas and was less than 1 percent in all 10 metropolitan areas with the lowest home share in the price range, as shown in this week's graph is.
