Courtesy / PropertyShark.com
Updated: November 27, 2023
For the first time, a Maine ZIP code cracks New England's 50 priciest for home sales
Photo / William Hall
In Cumberland Foreside, home of homes with ZIP code 04110, this five-bedroom house sold in July at the area's median price of $1.23 million. The house was built in 1960 by a famed local developer, Robert Walker, and "lovingly updated in recent years," according to the listing.
By William Hall
Learn the code behind ZIP codes, and why they're used so much in business.
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Maine home prices have entered new heights, with a ZIP code in suburban Portland now ranked among New England's 50 costliest for residential real estate — and other Maine ZIPs close below.
So far this year, homes have sold for a median price of $1.23 million in the 04110 ZIP code of Cumberland Foreside, according to data compiled by a national real estate blog, PropertyShark.com.
That figure makes 04110 the priciest ZIP code in Maine, as well as the state's first and only to have cracked the top 50 across New England, at No. 38. There are roughly 1,000 ZIP codes in the six New England states.
Home prices for 04110, a 2.3-square-mile sliver of shoreline in the town of Cumberland, have previously led those of other Maine ZIP codes. In a 2020 comparison, Cumberland Foreside recorded the state's highest median price, $768,000. But regionally, that didn't even place the ZIP among the 100 most expensive.
Over the past three years, however, the median sales price for 04110 has risen 60%, driven by a continuing run-up in values across much of Maine. The current $1.23 million median in 04110 ties those of two ZIP codes just outside Boston: 02478, which covers Belmont, Mass., and 02465, in West Newton, Mass.
PropertyShark said its 2023 analysis looked at all residential sales that closed between Jan. 1 and Nov. 13 in New England, and included purchases of existing one- and two-family houses, condos and co-op units. The median sale price is the level at which half the homes sold for a greater amount and half sold for less.
The most expensive ZIP code in New England this year is 02199, a portion of Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, where homes have sold for a median of $2.8 million. The least expensive of the top 50 ZIP codes is 02467, Chestnut Hill, Mass., where the median was $1.08 million.
Massachusetts dominates the rankings, with 39 of its ZIP codes in the top 50. In Connecticut, nine ZIPs are on the list. In New Hampshire, there are three, including the region's third-priciest, 03854, covering New Castle, N.H., where the median price was $2.55 million.
The town consists of about a dozen islands on the Piscataqua River, between Kittery and Portsmouth, N.H.
One ZIP code in Rhode Island, 02807 on Block Island, made the list, with a median price of $1.64 million. No ZIP codes in Vermont rank among the region's 50 priciest.
PropertyShark noted that due to ties in price, 54 ZIP codes are on the list, and that the analysis did not consider codes with fewer than six residential sales so far this year.
Maine, national rankings
Among Maine ZIP codes, homes in the Mount Desert ZIP code of 04660 have sold for the second-highest median price this year, $887,000.
Home prices in the town have soared faster than in many parts of Maine, sending 04660 to the No. 2 spot from No. 10 in 2020, when the median was $458,000.
Among the top 10 Maine ZIP codes this year are other repeat performers from Cumberland and York counties. The ZIP code for Orr's Island, in Harpswell, is a newcomer, ranking No. 4 with a median sales price of $830,000. Here's the PropertyShark rundown of the top 10.
Maine's 10 Most Expensive ZIP Codes for Home Sales
- Cumberland Foreside (04110), $1,225,000
- Mount Desert (04660), $887,000
- Falmouth (04105), $833,000
- Orr's Island (04066), $830,000
- Cape Elizabeth (04107), $728,000
- Yarmouth (04096), $725,000
- Kennebunkport (04046), $716,000
- North Yarmouth (04097), $712,000
- Ogunquit (03097), $710,000
- Cumberland (04021), $709,000
Courtesy / Maine Listing Service
A 2,300-square-foot cabin in Mount Desert was on the market Sunday for $725,000, about 18% under the median sale price for ZIP code 04660.
In a similar, nationwide comparison, PropertyShark listed 94027, in Atherton, Calif., as the country's most expensive ZIP code. Homes in the Silicon Valley town have sold during 2023 for a median of $8.3 million. No. 2 in the U.S. was ZIP code 11962, in Sagaponack, N.Y., a village in the Hamptons region of Long Island with a median price of $8.08 million.
Due to ties in price, PropertyShark's list of the 100 most expensive ZIP codes in the U.S. contains 122 entries. California accounts for the largest share, 79. Nine are in New England. The median sales price in New England's most expensive ZIP code, 02199, ranked No. 31 nationally.
Tale of two ZIP codes
While top-priced 04110 lies within Cumberland, 90% of the town's area is in ZIP code 04021, which ranked No. 10 statewide with a median sales price of $709,000.
Originally a locale of summer cottages and waterfront estates, Cumberland Foreside is more densely populated than other parts of the town. Cumberland Center and West Cumberland have consisted largely of family farms and pockets of starter homes.
But demographics have changed in recent years, and new homes like the Cumberland Crossing development have drawn an influx of residents. Between 2010 and 2020, the town's population grew from 7,200 to 8,500, an 18% increase.
There's a similar evolution going on in Cumberland Foreside itself, which is bounded by State Route 88, along the edge of Casco Bay, and U.S. Route 1, which runs parallel about half a mile inland.
For decades, the Cumberland stretch of Route 1 was sparsely developed, dotted by only a few small businesses. Today, there are numerous construction sites.
Of seven homes for sale on Sunday in 04110, four were condominiums listed between $439,000 and $789,000 at the Mark, a luxury development that began in 2021. In September, construction of the 45-unit complex at 100 Route 1 was 40% completed.
Homes tend to be older and more expensive along Route 88. Just off it, at 19 Stornoway Road, a seven-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot mansion sold in August for $7.5 million. A few doors away, at 14 Lantern Lane, a three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot home was on the market Sunday for $4.6 million.
Courtesy / Maine Listing Service
On Sunday, this Cumberland Foreside home was listed for sale at $4.6 million.
Fast facts about ZIP codes
Courtesy / USPS
ZIP codes, originally known as Zone Improvement Plan codes, are a system of numerals used by the U.S. Postal Service since 1963 to route mail throughout the country.
Because they identify concentrations of mailing addresses — and thus, people — ZIP codes have been adopted for other uses such as census-taking, political polling and business marketing.
- Currently, more than 41,000 ZIP codes blanket the United States.
- Their average geographic size is about 90 square miles, but ZIP codes range in area from a single building or block in New York City to the 30,700 square miles that make up ZIP code 99734 in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
- Some ZIP codes straddle multiple municipalities. For example, the ZIP for Chestnut Hill, Mass., 02467, includes portions of Boston, Brookline, Mass., and Newton, Mass.
- The five-digit codes are numbered with the first, left-most number generally representing a group of U.S. states. The second and third numbers represent a region in that group or, in some cases, a large city. The fourth and fifth numbers, at the right, represent a group of delivery addresses within the region. Since 1983, an additional four digits have been used to identify some areas more precisely.
- Numerically, ZIP codes range from the lowest digits in the Northeast to the largest numbers on the West Coast. ZIP codes beginning with "0" include those in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont and the Virgin Islands, along with Army Post Office (APO) and Navy Fleet Post Office (FPO) codes in Europe.
- The lowest ZIP code number is 00501, a special designation for an Internal Revenue Service facility in Holtsville, N.Y. The highest number is 99950 in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Sources: U.S. Postal Service, UnitedStatesZIPCodes.org
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