3 of Five Towns make Forbes’ 500 priciest list

Three of the Five Towns have made the Forbes' list of the 500 most expensive zip codes in the country, despite falling median home prices over the past year.

Hewlett was ranked 286 out of the 500 most expensive zip codes. Lawrence came in at 320, while new entrant Woodmere was placed at 453. Hewlett was the only one out of the three to see gains in its median home prices, with a three-percent increase. Lawrence’s prices dipped by 28 percent, according to Forbes, and Woodmere’s properties saw a 15 percent decrease in value. Despite the dips, making the list means that the areas are still very desirable, local real estate agents said.

“I would think higher prices mean more desirable, with the school system, proximity to Manhattan, shopping,” said Jay Goldman, manager at Julia Stevens Realty in Hewlett. “Those are the things that make an area desirable, which means more people want to live there and that means the area becomes pricier. That’s despite higher real estate taxes.”

Milky Forst, a real estate agent based in Lawrence, agreed with Forbes’ estimation of changes in median home prices, but disputed that Lawrence dipped as severely as 28 percent. “It was a combination of the fact that the prices were inflated — they were higher than they should have been — and the recession,” she said.

Before the recession, “Money was easier to come by, mortgages were easy,” Forst said. “People were more generous and quicker with their offers. When the market goes down, people are more cautious and they count their dollars.” Forst added that the lower-priced houses came down much more than the higher-end homes because the lower-priced homes were more inflated.

“Prices have dropped across the country,” Goldman said. “There’s nothing in those statistics, given the national economy, that indicate anything other than a vibrant community that continues to attract people. There’s no question that pricing will get to the point or surpass where we were.”