CHARLOTTE B. TEAGLE / Staff Ying Kue and his family are neighbors with the rich and famous in their exclusive Duluth ZIP code.   Related: COMPARE PRICES BY ZIP CODE • Complete Home Report 2004

Rep. John Linder lives three doors down.

And here's the best part about living amid Gwinnett's rich and powerful: The house LaRue bought for $500,000 two years ago in the Stonebrier at Sugarloaf neighborhood recently appraised for $625,000.

Welcome to 30097, Gwinnett's 90210.

The Duluth-area ZIP code straddling Sugarloaf Parkway may not have quite the glitz of Beverly Hills, but the address did register Gwinnett's greatest increase in the sales price of existing houses -- 18 percent -- during 2003, according to an analysis of sales deeds. Only five other ZIP codes in metro Atlanta had larger jumps. The result was a median sales price of $245,000 for existing houses.

The 30097 ZIP code also added the priciest new houses in the county last year, the analysis found. The median price of $330,500 ranked ninth in metro Atlanta.

The ZIP code stretches from I-85 in Gwinnett across the Chattahoochee River to Medlock Bridge Road in Fulton County. In between is a mansion mecca thick with country clubs and gated communities.

The Sugarloaf Country Club -- an exclusive enclave of executives, athletes and entrepreneurs -- has boosted houses values for all the surrounding neighborhoods, LaRue said. The average home there sells for about $1 million.

"Mike Vick lives over there," LaRue said. "People find that out and want to get as close as they can."

Neighbor Xi Kue, a financial services adviser, said she was drawn to the area's good schools, easy access to I-85 and varied shopping options. The ZIP code sits within the retail triangle formed by Gwinnett's three mega-malls.

"It's convenient to everything," Kue said. "There's so much shopping."

The 30097 ZIP was the cream of a healthy housing crop in 2003. Overall, resale prices rose 5.2 percent in Gwinnett last year. The median price of new houses built in Gwinnett actually went down by 1.5 percent, however, compared with houses constructed in 2002. Combining Gwinnett's existing home sales with new ones produced an overall 4 percent increase in price. The median price rose from $160,900 to $167,400.

When factoring in new home sales, two areas of Gwinnett stood out. The 30019 ZIP code, which stretches from the Hamilton Mill community to the Walton County line in eastern Gwinnett, posted a 16 percent gain in median home sales price. So did the 30340 ZIP code, which starts along Buford Highway in Norcross but is largely in neighboring DeKalb County.

Gwinnett remained the runaway leader in new home construction around metro Atlanta, even though the number of new houses sold in Gwinnett edged down slightly from 8,780 to 8,651.

For the second year in a row, the 30045 ZIP code led the Atlanta region in the number of new houses built. More than 1,200 houses went up in Lawrenceville and along the winding country roads to the north and east of the city. In 2002, the figure was 1,595.

The 30019 ZIP code that includes the fast-developing Hamilton Mill neighborhood added 1,136 new houses, ranking it sixth in the region. The median price was $239,550, a 20 percent increase over the median price of new homes built there in 2002.

But for existing homes, the greatest increases were back in Duluth.

And the escalating prices aren't confined to neighborhoods with a gate in front.

Several brick and stucco houses in the lushly landscaped Castlemaine neighborhood off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard are on the market in the mid-$400s. And Kent O'Callaghan, a real estate agent in the area, said prices are climbing in the River Plantation neighborhood a little farther north.

"I put somebody in there at $320,000 in February," she said.

"And you can't find anything in there under $350,000 now."

Dwight Long, sales manager at Stonebrier at Sugarloaf, said the average house price has leapt $60,000 since the beginning of the year.

"We've actually had people give us deposits to get in line for homes out here," he said of the neighborhood designed for 250 houses.

Even the glossy magazines in the sales office are outdated. They say "Signature Homes $400s-$600s." The new range: $500s-$700s.