Upper East Side tops list of most expensive ZIP codes on the country: Forbes

At these prices, "movin' on up" is nothing more than a dream.

The Upper East Side is the most expensive neighborhood in the country and is the first New York City ZIP to top the list, according to Forbes annual ranking of the priciest ZIP codes nationwide.

The ritzy nabe has a median home price of $6.5 million, bumping last year's top ZIP in Alpine, New Jersey, to No. 2 at $5.7 million, according to Forbes.

The city overall came up huge on the list, nabbing four of the top 10 spots. The West Village was No. 6, and two other ZIPs on the UES were Nos. 8 and 10.

Morgan Brennan, the Forbes reporter who compiled the list, said the jump in prices on the UES was largely because a comparatively large amount of premium-priced listings became available. The percent price change in the area, she said, increased more than %300 from last year, primarily because of these ultra-luxury "trophy" pads coming into the market.

"Obviously, it has a lot of billionaires living in the ZIP code, and it's sort of that classic UES, Central Park area," Brennan said. "But more, we've seen a lot of single-family homes and trophy townhouses start to come to market, that super-luxury inventory sustains the area as a very expensive place to live."

Brennan added that a depressed inventory also drove up prices, a trend she saw across the city and nationwide.

Sofia Song, vice president for research at StreetEasy, said it's a given that Manhattan nabes would top a list of the most expensive in the country.

"We're an island with limited supply, so it's a market that everyone watches, and if you the money it's a market everyone wants to be a part of," Song said. "Real estate for New York City is like a sport."

She added that prices also increased because foreign buyers are especially interested in the Manhattan market, most notably in the record-setting $88 million Central Park West penthouse a Russian billionaire bought for his daughter last year.

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The Upper East Side topped Forbes 2012 list of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country. Here are the five priciest places nationwide:
1. Upper East Side (10065), Median home price: $6.5M
2. Alpine, N,J. (07620), MHP: $5.7M
3. Atherton, Calif. (94027), MHP: $4.8M
4. Sagaponack, N.Y. (11962), MHP: $4.1M
5. Hillsborough, Calif. (94010), MHP: $4.1M