A typical home costs at least $1 million in these Utah cities

The number of cities and neighborhoods in Utah where the typical home costs $1M+ is growing, per a recent Zillow report.

Why it matters: Utah's newest "million-dollar cities" are not adjacent to other communities — which means whole towns are becoming all but inaccessible to anyone who can't afford a luxury home.

Zoom in: Kamas and Alta became Utah's newest "million-dollar cities" this year, Zillow data show.

• They join Park City, Alpine, West Mountain near Payson, and the Granite neighborhood near Bell Canyon in Sandy.

Between the lines: People with cash don't have to worry about high mortgage rates .

The big picture: The number of U.S. million-dollar cities climbed from 491 to 550 in the last year partly because demand for homes outside of urban areas has grown since the pandemic, Stephanie Anton, president of the Corcoran Affiliate Network, tells Axios.

What they're saying: "For affluent consumers, real estate isn't just a shelter decision," Anton says.

• These people are motivated to buy a new home in the same way they're motivated to buy a new luxury handbag, Anton explains.
• It's about signaling who you are, acquiring something unique and buying something because you're "worth it" or "worked hard for it," she says.

The other side: Florida, Texas and Delaware have fewer million-dollar cities than a year ago, per Zillow's report .

The intrigue: "Luxury tends to lead us out of difficult times," Anton says. After 2008, high-end home buyers were the first to make moves.