According to a recent study, home prices on the East End continued to dip in 2010, but they are still higher than just about everywhere else in the United States.

And even after taking a hit from Wall Street, which has added significantly to the local real estate market slump over the past few years, homes on the East End sit on some of the most valuable property in America—particularly those that are located in Sagaponack and Water Mill, which were just listed as number one and number five on the BusinessWeek.com annual ranking of “The 50 Most Expensive Small Towns in America.”

According to the list, which was published in late January, Sagaponack retained its title as the number one most expensive small town in the country, even though the median home sale price in the village dropped by just over $1 million in the past year.

For the study, median home sale price data for towns with populations of less than 10,000 was collected and analyzed by the real estate website Zillow.com. The rankings were reported using data collected from January to November 2010 in comparison to that gathered from January to November 2009.

The 2010 median home sale price in Sagaponack, population 582, was just over $3.4 million in 2010, down from $4.5 million in 2009. For the previous “The 50 most Expensive Small Towns in America” list, published in January 2010, median home values in Sagaponack, though ranked number one, were down 4 percent from 2008 to 2009.

Water Mill, home to more than 2,100, saw a population bump of about 100 people and moved up from number six on the 2010 list to number five on the 2011 list, with a median home sale price of slightly over $2.1 million in 2010. According to data collected for the previous list, the median home sale price in Water Mill was just over $2.2 million in 2009.

Quogue was the only locale west of the canal that made the 2011 list. The village made a major jump to number 13 from the 2010 ranking of number 30. The median home sale price in the village, which is home to just over 1,000, was just over $1.7 million. That figure is up slightly from the 2010 list reporting at $1.5 million.

Amagansett, which did not rank last year, was named the number 23 most expensive small town. The median home sale price in the village of nearly 1,200 was over $1.4 million.

Bridgehampton fell dramatically from number 8 on the 2010 list to number 35 on the 2011 list. The median home sale price was down from just over $2 million on the 2010 list to slightly more than $1.2 million for this past year’s ranking. The population, nearly 1,500, stayed the same.

Rounding out the list for the East End was North Haven, population 890, edging slightly up from number 48 on the 2010 list to number 45 on the 2011 list. The median home sale price was just under $1.1 million, slightly less than the 2010 list price of $1.2 million.

East End areas that fell off the “50 Most Expensive Small Towns in America” list over the past year included Wainscott, which had come in at number 13 on the 2010 ranking; Fishers Island, which was last ranked at number 24; Northwest Harbor, which was number 32; and East Hampton, which was ranked at number 42 on the 2010 list.

Nearly half of the top 50 towns that made the 2011 list are in New York State, and six of the top 50 are on the East End. California had the second highest concentration of expensive small towns, with 13 on the list.