More than half of the most expensive places to buy a home in New Jersey are in the Shore area, according to a study from real estate data company Property Shark.
Seven of New Jersey’s 10 most expensive ZIP codes are in Shore towns, according to the annual ranking released this week.
They are: Deal, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Allenhurst, Rumson, Avon-by-the-Sea and Long Beach Island.
“Overall, this year’s priciest zips are all high-income communities with strict zoning regulations or fairly definitive geographic limitations that keep supply limited in these communities, further pushing prices up, even when other larger markets may see prices and demand trend down,” said Eliza Theiss, a senior writer at Property Shark told NJ Advance Media.
“For New Jersey,” she said, “the impact of NYC and the overall New York metro area remains a defining factor, as does the presence of ample waterfront real estate.”
Two towns made the list for the first time: Avon-by-the-Sea and Allenhurst.
Avon-by-the-Sea is a half-square-mile borough next to Belmar with about 2,000 residents.
Allenhurst, just south of Avon-by-the-Sea and bordering Deal, covers less than a third of a square mile and has fewer than 500 residents.
“Avon-by-the-Sea and Allenhurst have long been under-the-radar gems along the Jersey Shore,” said Robert White, district manager of Coldwell Banker Realty’s Monmouth and Ocean County districts.
Their debut on Property Shark’s list reflects a broader trend, he said, of buyers being “increasingly drawn to smaller, picturesque coastal towns that offer charm, exclusivity, and direct beach access.”
“With limited inventory and both towns in prime locations with walkability to downtown and mass transit, these two should have made the list long ago,” White said.
Absent from the list this year are Barnegat Light, which ranked seventh in 2024 with a median sale price of $1.9 million and Mantoloking, which ranked fourth and had a $2.365 million median sale price in 2024.
Shore towns have such a presence on the list because “people value having a drivable second home,” said Emily Wilkins of Goldcoast Sotheby’s International Realty.
And the towns along the Jersey Shore are a drivable distance from three metro areas: Philadelphia, New York City and Washington D.C., she said.
“There’s been an influx of ultra-luxury buyers who want turnkey, over the top, nice houses,” Wilkins said. “That’s pushed the prices higher.”
In Bergen County, Alpine once again topped the list, with its median home sale price surpassing $4 million for the first time.
The median price of an home in Alpine hit $4.35 million, a 31 percent jump from the 2024 median of $3.317 million.
The median sale price of a home statewide was $585,753 in September, according to New Jersey Realtors.
Alpine, known for its privacy and proximity to New York City, has been the most expensive ZIP code in New Jersey for nine of the past 10 years. It was unseated only once, in 2022, by Deal, which ranked second in 2025.
One surprise this year was Stone Harbor outranking as a pricier zip code than its Seven Mile Island neighbor, Avalon.
Ryan Vince of Tim Kerr Sotheby’s International Realty said that might have to do with the housing makeup in the two towns.
Zoning rules in Stone Harbor are more restrictive, therefore Avalon has more condominiums, which are typically less expensive than single family homes.
“That might skew the numbers lower,“ Vince said. ”But, regardless, it’s one and the same. It’s expensive as hell to be down here."
More N.J. real estate news
Property Shark assembled the top 10 list by examining registered residential transactions involving condo, co-op, single, and two-family homes that closed between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2025. Only zip codes that registered five or more transactions were included.
The company also put out its list of the 100 most expensive zip codes in the country. Six New Jersey towns were ranked, including Alpine (13), Deal (22), Stone Harbor (57), Short Hills (69), Avalon (75) and Allenhurst (93).
These are the 10 priciest ZIP codes in New Jersey and the median sale price of a home there, according to Property Shark: