The tree-lined streets that border Central Park and the East River and run from E. 61th to E. 69th streets, home to media mogul Rupert Murdoch and cosmetic tycoon Ronald Perelman, bumped Alpine, New Jersey from its perch on the annual list.

"This is the first time that a Big Apple neighbourhood has topped our list," Forbes said of the New York area with the ZIP code 10065. "The main factor driving listing prices in America's most expensive ZIP codes this year is lack of inventory."

Alpine, the affluent New Jersey neighbourhood where the median house price is $5.75 million and its ZIP code is 07620, dropped to the No. 2 spot, followed by Atherton, in California's Silicon Valley with a 94027 postal code.

Sagaponack (11962), the Southampton village on Long Island in New York where singer Billy Joel and Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein enjoy the summer sun, came in fourth for the second consecutive year. Hillsborough (94010), just south of San Francisco California, rounded out the top five.

Cities like New York, where demand is high and inventory is low, saw some of the highest increases in prices. A lack of properties in the city's trendy Greenwich Village (10014) pushed it into the top ten at No. 6, ahead of Beverly Hills (90210), California, which came in 12th.

Forbes compiled its list of priciest ZIP codes using Altos Research, the California-based company that tracks housing data. It calculated prices for single-family homes and condominiums. Co-ops were not included in the calculations and a rolling average for a 90-day period was used to smooth any wide variations.

"If you enter these markets as a buyer today, this is what you would experience," Michael Simonsen, chief executive of Altos Research told Forbes, "and if you are going to sell, this is your competition."

Forbes added that wealthy foreign buyers have helped push up prices as they look at cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington D.C. for a place to park their money.

For a full list of the cities go to www.forbes.com/zipcodes

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Andrew Hay)

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