Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on October 9th, 2014

Are Soho artists living in the third most expensive zip code in the USA? It appears so…..The median price for a home in Soho is $6 million yet the City still keeps Soho in the grasp of an antiquated zoning law called A.I.R, or Artist in Residence, a law which zones the entire area for the housing of fine artists only: Are fine artists really that rich?

According to Forbes Magazine, Six of the USA’s 10 most expensive ZIP codes are in New York City. 94207 in Atherton, Calif., is the nation’s most expensive ZIP code. The median home price in that Silicon Valley town halfway between San Jose and San Francisco is a little over $9 million.  The second-most-expensive ZIP code is 11962 (Sagaponack in the Hampton’s) where homes cost an average of $6.4 million. Nos. 3 through 5 on the pricey ZIP-code list are all in Manhattan — 10013 in Soho, at $6 million; 10065 on the Upper East Side, at $5.9 million; and 10075, also on the Upper East Side, at $5.3 million.

Alpine, NJ (07629 ZIP code)came in No. 6, at $5 million, followed by Aspen, Colorado (81656)., at $4.95 million. The top 10 is rounded out by three Manhattan ZIPs — Chelsea (10011), at $4.9 million; the West Village (10014), at $4.8 million; along Houston Street (10012), at $4.7 million. Two of the high-priced Big Apple ZIPs, 10075 and 10014, were not in 2013’s top 10.

How is it possible that the City of New York is blind to the facts….again?