Housing Bubble
California Has 41 Percent of All Million-Dollar Homes
July 28, 2003
More than one out of every three U.S. homes valued at a million dollars or more could be found in California at the start of this decade, according to NAHB analysis of 2000 Census data
"It’s no surprise that California has cornered the market on million-dollar homes," said Jerry Howard, CEO and Executive Vice President of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). "However, the sheer concentration of million-dollar residences in just a few states may be greater than most people had realized."
"Keep in mind that this is a very limited market we’re talking about," Howard noted. "Out of an inventory of more than 55 million owner-occupied single-family homes nationwide, fewer than 314,000 were worth a million dollars as of the 2000 Census. That’s just six-tenths of one percent of the marketplace." Of that 314,000, about 128,600, or 41 percent, were in California.
And California’s grip on the million-dollar marketplace has only strengthened in the last several years, according to Bob Rivinius, CEO of the California Building Industry Association (CBIA). "In light of our state’s strong rate of home appreciation, ever-increasing demand, and rising land and regulatory costs, I’d venture that the number of million-dollar homes here has probably doubled since the 2000 Census," he said.
No other state came close to California in the latest survey. New York had the second-highest number of million-dollar residences, with 22,300, or 7.1 percent of the nation’s total. Third on the list was Florida, with just over 18,000 or 5.8 percent, followed by Connecticut with 13,900, or 4.4 percent. Coming in at number five was Illinois, with 3.9 percent or about 12,400 homes in the million-dollar range.
"Combined, these top five states accounted for about 26.5 percent of the nation’s total housing stock, yet more than 62 percent of its million-dollar homes. Add in the next five states - New Jersey at No. 6, followed by Texas, Massachusetts, Washington and Michigan - and you’ve accounted for more than 75 percent of the market," Howard noted.
Where does a million-dollar home stand out? North Dakota had just 51 such homes as of the latest Census, and while South Dakota had more than twice that number - at 129 - it too was outnumbered by every other state. Vermont’s 179, Arkansas’s 195 and Montana’s 324 homes in the million-dollar range rounded out the bottom five. Together, these states accounted for less than half a percent of all U.S. million-dollar homes.
Of course, not all million-dollar homes are created equal, said Howard. "Growth controls and regulatory barriers have been on a collision path with an unrelenting demand for housing in high-cost markets like California. Consequently, the underlying costs of building new homes have soared, which also pushes existing-home values up across the board. So a million-dollar home in California may be comparably equipped to a high six-figure home in some other market - the difference being entirely in land and regulatory costs."
Source: National Association of Home Builders
