15 Most Expensive Single-Family Housing Markets in the Country

Western markets continue to be the most expensive places in America to buy single-family homes, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Four of the five priciest markets are in California, and three are in Colorado, according to a second-quarter 2022 report from the NAR. Four are in the Northeast, and one is in Florida.

The NAR data is from sales recorded through June. The market has peaked since then, and double-digit declines in pending home sales are now being reported nationally. However, these top 15 markets would have a long way to fall before they got anywhere near the median national sales price of $413,500 reported by the NAR at midyear.

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The median sales price of a single-family home here in the heart of Silicon Valley was $1.9 million in the second quarter. That's an 11.8% year-over-year increase, according to the NAR's figures. San Jose itself has a population of about one million people, and the metro area is home to about two million.

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The San Francisco market is one where home prices are reportedly falling the most. As of June, the median sales price here was $1,550,000 -- an 11.9% jump over June 2021. This metro area has about 4.7 million residents, up more than 9% just since 2020. So there's likely to be continuing demand for what inventory is available.

The Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine metro area is home to about 3.2 million people. This market just south of Los Angeles posted a median sales price of $1.3 million in Q2 2022 -- a hefty 17.2% year-over-year surge.

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Hawaii's capital city is also the fourth-most expensive in the country as of midyear, with a median price of $1,145,000 for an existing single-family home. That was 17.3% above last year's midyear median price in this urban market of about 802,000 people. (You get proximity to Waikiki Beach to sweeten the deal.)

Coming in at No. 5 is the San Diego-Carlsbad market with a median price of $965.900, a 13.6% rise from last year at this time. San Diego itself is home to about 1.4 million people, and its seaside northern neighbor, Carlsbad, adds another 115,000 or so souls to the housing market here.

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Boulder is a growing town of about 110,000, up about 1.5% in the past two years. The NAR says that this Rocky Mountain town is home to the University of Colorado and commands a median sales price of $933,400 -- 11.8% more than this point last year.

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The fast-growing Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island area is now home to about 380,000 people and is among the areas in the midst of recovering from Hurricane Ian. The NAR says the median single-family home price here was $850,000 at midyear, a huge jump of 28.9% in just a single year.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale is one of our nation's largest metro areas, with a population nearing 10 million. The median price of a single-family existing home in this sprawling market was $825,700 in Q2 2022, up 9.2% from this point in 2021.

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We jump from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest to find America's 15th-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and No. 9 on this list. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue market boasts a population of about 4.1 million people and, after a jump of 14.4% in a single year, now has a median price of $818,900 for a single-family existing home.

We had to get to No. 10 to find a non-Western market. The Boston-Cambridge-Newton MSA, which includes the Boston area and a bit of New Hampshire, has about 4.9 million residents and a median home price of $722,200. The NAR says that's an 8.9% rise from this point last year.

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The Barnstable Town metro area includes Cape Cod and is home to about 213,000 residents. This market was often cited as one of the beneficiaries of pandemic-driven flight to desirable work-from-home areas. The median price of a single-family home here, per the NAR, jumped 15% in the past year to $721,800.

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The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk MSA is a diverse collection of communities that boasts numerous major corporations and a population of about 950,000 people. The NAR pegs the median home price in this market on I-95 just north of New York City at $700,600, up about 3.3% in the past year.

The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood market is home to about 2.9 million people and ranks lucky No. 13 on the NAR list of most expensive single-family home markets. The median price here was $695,800, up some 12.5% from this point last year.

The two counties comprising much of Long Island include hundreds of cities, towns, incorporated villages, and unincorporated hamlets, according to the state of New York. The latest NAR figures show a 6.8% rise year over year to a median price of $677,800 for an existing single-family home in Nassau or Suffolk counties.

Fort Collins is considered part of the Rocky Mountain Front Range urban corridor and, with a population of about 170,000, is the smallest on this list. The median price for an existing single-family home in this Northern Colorado university town (35,000-student Colorado State University) was $630,900 in the latest NAR report, a resounding jump of 24.1% in a single year.

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While home prices have begun to fall in many markets, they're still quite high for many Americans, especially with inflation and soaring interest rates. Meanwhile, these 15 markets are places where desirability and demand may well remain constant enough to support their elevated levels for years to come. It's all relative and all local when it comes to real estate, after all.

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