"It's no surprise that California has cornered the market on million-dollar homes," said Jerry Howard, CEO and executive vice president of NAHB. "However, the sheer concentration of million-dollar residences in just a few states may be greater than most people had realized.

" Out of an inventory of more than 55 million owner-occupied, single-family homes nationwide, fewer than 314,000 were worth a million dollars as of the 2000 Census," Howard said. "That's just six-tenths of one percent of the marketplace." Of that 314,000, about 128,600, or 41 percent, were in California, according to the report.

No other state came close to California, according to the survey. New York had the second-highest number of million-dollar residences, with 22,300, or 7.1 percent of the nation's total. Florida was third with just over 18,000 or 5.8 percent, followed by Connecticut with 13,900 or 4.4 percent and Illinois with 3.9 percent or about 12,400 homes.