Largely due to the tech boom, Northern California now has 39 of the 100 most expensive ZIP codes in America. In San Francisco alone, the median sold price for a home is now $1.5 million (£1.1m), while prestigious urban centres in the region have even steeper housing markets.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Larry Page, two of the richest people in the US, both reside in the Silicon Valley community of Palo Alto. Property in the area, which is the home of Stanford University, has a staggering median sold price of $3.3 million (£2.4m). The Bay Area has truly become a playground for the tech industry's wealthiest titans.

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