Home prices are climbing in some unlikely corners of America — and most, are surprisingly, from modest Midwestern cities.
While home values declined in most major US cities over the past year, some unexpected places have bucked the trend.
Toledo, Ohio, recorded the largest annual increase in typical home values among 100 major US cities, rising 5.6%, according to a SmartAsset study published in April.
Lincoln, Nebraska, followed with a 4.1% increase, while New York City and San Francisco each saw gains of approximately 4%.
Toledo’s relative affordability may help explain its strong showing. The Ohio city’s typical home value stood at just $126,270 in February, according to SmartAsset, making it a comparatively affordable option for buyers. Local brokerage Wiens & Roth Real Estate pointed to tight inventory, with roughly 1.5 months of housing supply, and interest from buyers priced out of larger metropolitan areas as factors supporting demand.
Lincoln, Nebraska typical home value now averages to $285,359 in February, according to SmartAsset. The city’s housing market has remained competitive. Realtor.com classified Lincoln as a seller’s market in September, with median sale prices up 6.5% year over year, even as active listings increased 11.4%.
The increases stand out against a broader backdrop of falling prices, with 70% of the cities analyzed experiencing declining home values between February 2025 and February 2026.
San Francisco’s gains were particularly striking given that nearby Oakland recorded the steepest decline in the study, with typical home values falling 9.1%.
Florida also saw some of the largest drops, with St. Petersburg declining 7.5% and Naples falling 6.4%, while Austin, Texas, recorded a decrease of approximately 6%.
Meanwhile, at the uppermost reaches of the housing market, some of America’s wealthiest communities are reaching unprecedented heights.
Atherton, California, the Silicon Valley enclave favored by tech billionaires, became the first ZIP code in the country to surpass a staggering $10 million median home sale price, according to a PropertyShark report released Tuesday.
The exclusive community reclaimed its title as America’s most expensive ZIP code, with a median sale price of $10.725 million — a 29% jump from last year.
More than two-thirds of the ZIP codes in PropertyShark’s ranking recorded rising median sale prices.
“Generally speaking, on the top end of the market is more resilient,” Eliza Theiss, the report’s author, told The Post.
She explained that wealthy buyers tend to be better positioned to withstand economic downturns and affordability pressures, helping some luxury markets sustain price growth even when broader housing conditions weaken.
In the Hamptons, Sagaponack reclaimed the nation’s No. 2 spot with a $7.35 million median sale price, up 24% from last year. The milestone comes as Hamptons homebuyers increasingly look beyond beachfront properties, reflecting shifting preferences in the luxury market.
Nearby Bridgehampton landed at No. 4 after its median sale price skyrocketed 114% to a record $6.15 million, while Water Mill ranked seventh at $5.75 million.
It marked the first time Suffolk County placed three ZIP codes among the nation’s 10 most expensive.
But Bridgehampton’s extraordinary increase comes with an important caveat.
Theiss told The Post that just 30 homes changed hands during the study period, compared with 49 a year earlier — a nearly 39% drop in transactions.
Rather than a handful of unusually expensive deals pulling up the median, she explained, fewer lower-priced properties sold, leaving transactions concentrated at the highest end of the market.
“It’s not that a couple of sales just pulled the number up,” Theiss said.
Atherton, by contrast, recorded relatively stable activity, with 55 sales compared with 59 last year, suggesting its record-breaking increase wasn’t simply the result of a dramatic shift in sales volume.
Elsewhere, Newport Coast, California, reached a record $6.1 million median sale price, up nearly 20%, while Beverly Hills’ famed 90210 ZIP code returned to the top 10 at $5.39 million, a 24% increase.
The New York metropolitan area also made a strong showing, tying the San Francisco Bay Area with 31 ZIP codes among the nation’s most expensive.
Westchester County placed three ZIP codes in the top 100 for the first time, while New York City itself had just three, led by Tribeca’s 10013 at $3.85 million.
Still, not every wealthy enclave experienced rising prices.
Fisher Island, the ultraexclusive Miami Beach community that topped last year’s ranking, slipped to third after its median sale price dropped 24% to $7.22 million.
Theiss noted that even luxury markets aren’t immune to downturns, pointing to 2023 as a particularly weak year following the pandemic housing boom.
The two studies measure different aspects of the housing market: SmartAsset tracks changes in typical home values across major cities, while PropertyShark examines median prices from completed transactions in the country’s most expensive ZIP codes.
Together, the findings show how differently home prices are moving across America — from relatively affordable Midwestern cities to exclusive coastal enclaves where multimillion-dollar properties are the norm.