America now has a record number of cities where the average house price is at least $1 million as property values keep rising

America has a record number of 'million-dollar cities' - where the average house price now exceeds six figures, new data shows.

In total 550 US cities have an average property price of $1 million or above, up by 59 from this time last year. 

The data from property portal Zillow lays bare how red-hot America's real estate landscape remains after years of consistent growth.

California alone counts 210 'million-dollar cities' - the highest of any US state and an increase of 12 from last year. 

It was followed by New York, New Jersey and Florida which count 66, 49 and 32 respectively. 

The growth of luxury real estate has largely outstripped the general housing market, Zillow's research shows.

While typical US home values have grown 4.2 percent compared to last year, those in 'million-dollar cities' had seen an average year-on-year increase of 4.6 percent.

New Jersey has experienced the biggest increase in cities where home values are over $1 million. It added 14 to its state in the last year. 

Meanwhile New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston were the four metro areas with the highest amount of 'million-dollar cities.' 

It comes as America's so-called 'frozen' property market shows signs of thawing as the number of new listings advertised on Zillow increased 20 percent between January and February.

Soaring mortgages have created a 'lock-in effect' as homeowners are reluctant to trade in the cheap 30-year fixed deals they secured before rates started rising.

Data from Government-backed lender Freddie Mac shows the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is now 6.79 percent.

This is more than double where they were three years ago when they were hovering at 3.17 percent.

It means a buyer purchasing a $400,000 property today faces monthly payments of $2,474. This analysis assumes a 5 percent downpayment.

However, had they bought in March 2021, this figure would be just $1,637 - a difference of $800 per month.

Yet a recent report by Zillow suggested housing activity was starting to uptick again.

Homes that sold in February spent an average of 17 days on the market - slower than during the homebuying frenzy of 2021 and 2022 but still much faster than pre-pandemic.

Experts are divided over where the housing market is now headed after they have remained surprisingly resilient.

Last week Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran predicted even the smallest drop in mortgage rates would cause property values to shoot up.

She told Fox Business: ''If rates go down, just another percentage point, prices are going to go through the roof.

'Everyone will come out and buy. There are probably 10 buyers on the sidelines [for each home on the market] waiting for interest rates to come down,' she continued. 'So everybody's going to charge the market.'

Contrastingly, analyst Meredith Whitney recently told DailyMail.com that prices would soon fall as more and more Baby Boomers start to downsize -and free up inventory.

Whitney - who earned the nickname the 'Oracle of Wall Street' after accurately predicting the 2008 financial crash - said: 'Around 90 percent of housing stock is owned by over 40s while 74 percent is by those over 50.

'It makes logical sense that lots of these owners will start to downsize in the next decade. That's almost 35 million homes - it's a huge number to go through the system.

'My advice to homeowners is: if you want to sell, you're better off doing it sooner than later.'