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Nantucket is a playground for the well-to-do, a status that’s confirmed by its housing values.

The typical house in Nantucket County is worth more than $1 million, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Indeed, the island community is the only U.S. county with a median house value expressed in seven digits. The runners-up are Marin County, Calif. (a San Francisco suburb), at $880,000, and New York County, N.Y. (better known as Manhattan), at $800,400.

Another 31 counties — a mixture of affluent suburbs and upscale resort areas — have median house values between $500,000 and $800,000. Dukes County, which includes Nantucket’s alter-ego in Martha’s Vineyard, ranked ninth nationally with a median home value of $686,800.

The database below contains the median and upper quartile values for all but one of the 3,143 counties and independent cities across the country. (No values are available for tiny Kalawao County, Hawaii, whose population is less than 100, so its spaces have been left blank.)

The median is the midpoint, a figure that’s higher than the values of half of a county’s homes and lower than the other half. The upper quartile is the price ceiling for three-quarters of those same houses.

Use the tab to focus the database on a single state, or simply hit Search to view the list in its entirety. Click any column header to re-sort the rankings.

Eight counties are above the $1 million mark in upper quartile value. Three are in California, two are in Colorado, and the others are in Massachusetts, New York and Wyoming.

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2011/09/nantcuket-tops-in-nation-with-priciest.html

On a cool and foggy late-spring day back in 1972, four Cape Cod sailors were sitting around Baxter’s Boathouse when they decided to set out for Nantucket. As often happens in sailing, bets were placed, boasts were made and the leisurely cruise turned into a race.

As the fog socked in somewhere over Nantucket Sound, one of the disoriented sailors uttered the phrase that has now become synonymous with the Memorial Day Weekend race that grew out of that first informal sail: “Where the Figawi?”

Over the next four decades, the race grew by leaps and bounds, to the point where entries are annually cut off around 200, making it one of the largest sanctioned sailboat races on the East Coast.

Excerpt from the I&M website by Joshua Balling, I&M Assistant Editor

Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose last week to their highest level in more than a month as declining borrowing costs spurred purchases and refinancing. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index increased 8.2% in the period ended May 6. The group’s refinancing gauge advanced 9%, the biggest gain in nine weeks, while its purchase index rose 6.7%.

– “MBA Mortgage Applications Index Increased 8.2% Last Week,” by Bob Willis, Bloomberg, May 11, 2011.

The number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes rose more than forecast in March. The index of pending home resales climbed 5.1% after a revised 0.7% increase the prior month, the National Association of Realtors said. Three of four regions saw increases from the prior month, according to the report. That included gains of 10.3% in the South, 3.1% in the West and 3% in the Midwest.
“Positive news on the housing market is welcomed with open arms. The sector should receive support from job growth and lending rates, which are expected to stay fairly low,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.
– “Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Increase 5.1%, More Than Estimated,” by Shobhana Chandra, Bloomberg, April 28, 2011.