California Has the Most Valuable Land in the U.S. by ZIP Code

Santa Monica, CA 90402 is the most exclusive address in the U.S., according to a new study comparing home value with construction costs.

New analysis by Issi Romem, chief economist of BuildZoom, a San Francisco-based company that connects homeowners with building contractors, shows that valuable land is defined more so by zoning restriction in an area, rather than home price. Zoning restrictions can stop builders from filling the markets with homes consumers want, per Bloomberg's reporting.

Romem set out to identify areas where home values outstrip the construction cost of new homes, giving builders a natural incentive to put up more of them. He took the average home value in a given area and subtracted the estimated average value of the sticks and bricks.

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