Big bump in sales of California million-dollar homes

Nearly 27,000 of them sold in 2012, according to Dataquick, a 27 percent increase over a year earlier - and the highest sales total in this category since 2007 (the all-time high was 2005). Of course, a million bucks doesn't get you anything like it used to, especially in portions of L.A. The real jaw-droppers are $5 million and up, and in that segment, 697 sales were registered, easily topping 2011's 491 (an all-time high). And just to remind everybody how rich this state truly is, one in four of the $1million-plus transactions were all-cash, another record. From press release:

"It should go without saying that buyers and sellers in the prestige market tend to respond to different motivations and incentives than the rest of the market. Job security, down payment sizes and mortgage interest rates don't play the same role. Returns on investments in a low interest-rate financial environment and safe-haven investing do play a role," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Here's the ranking of richest ZIP codes, based on the number of $1 million sales:

94010 Hillsborough 422

90266 Manhattan Beach 372

94025 Menlo Park 370

95070 Saratoga 364

92660 Newport Beach 362

92037 La Jolla 345

90049 Brentwood 344

90210 Beverly Hills 330

94024 Los Altos 311

92651 Laguna Beach 307

90272 Pacific Palisades 303

95014 Cupertino 297

90274 Rolling Hills Estates 262

92625 Corona Del Mar 256

94022 Los Altos 255

94539 Fremont 240

92657 Newport Beach 228

92130 Del Mar 225

90265 Malibu 219

94306 Palo Alto 218

94941 Mill Valley 215

94114 San Francisco 213

95032 Los Gatos 213

94062 Woodside 208

90275 Rancho Palos Verdes 205

Source: Dataquick