Melrose Home Prices Top $1 Million in Four of September's Priciest Sales

MELROSE -- The Registry of Deeds recorded 17 property transfers in Melrose between Aug. 28 and Sept. 26, with the top sale reaching $1,260,500 on Porter Street. Nearly half of the period's recorded deeds were transfers between individuals and their own family trusts rather than sales to new owners.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The registry recorded 17 total property transfers in Melrose during the period, though a sale price had been recorded for only 9 of them as of this writing; the remaining 8 are pending or represent trust transfers that typically do not carry a sale price. Among the 9 sales with a recorded price, prices ranged from $376,000 to $1,260,500, with a median of $893,000. A raw count of 17 recorded deeds is a substantial volume for a four-week window, but a closer look shows that 8 of those 17 transfers moved property from an owner to that same owner's revocable trust, meaning the period's count of arm's-length sales to new buyers is smaller than the headline number suggests.

TOP SALES

The month's highest-priced transaction was 286 Porter St., which sold for $1,260,500 on Sept. 3. Sellers Robert E. Richardson and Mary E. Landergan conveyed the property to Connie I. Browne and James M. Browne. At 25 Cumner Ave., a trust sale closed Aug. 31 for $1,170,000, with sellers Christine Mara and Pamela McHale, both listed as trustees, conveying to Michael Bekkenhuis and William Chleapas. 46 Oakland St. sold for $1,065,500 on Sept. 3, with seller Mark A. Randazzo conveying to Hooman Farsani and Vanessa F. Naghdi. 26 Garden St. sold for $1,026,000 on Aug. 31; the Boynton Nominee Trust, through trustee Carolyn L. Boynton Bruen, sold to Amanda Dail. Rounding out the top five, 16 Ells Ave. sold for $893,000 on Aug. 31, with sellers Scott C. Alley and Joan Haynes, trustee, conveying to Marat Usmanov and Shilin Zhou.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Sales with a recorded price cluster into three tiers. Four sales closed above $1 million: 286 Porter St., 25 Cumner Ave., 46 Oakland St. and 26 Garden St. Three sales fell in the $700,000-to-$1 million range: 16 Ells Ave. at $893,000, 17 Echo St. at $855,000, and 59 Mystic Ave. at $755,000. Two sales closed under $500,000: a Melrose property with no street address listed at $380,000 and 534 Main St., Unit 11, at $376,000. No single street produced multiple priced sales this period, though Vinton Street saw two separate deed transfers, at 62 Vinton St., Unit 2, and 345 Vinton St.; neither has a recorded sale price yet, and both were transfers from an individual owner into that owner's own trust rather than sales to a new buyer.

MARKET NOTES

Of the 17 deeds recorded in the period, 8 were transfers in which the seller and buyer are the same person or people, with the buyer listed as a trustee or the transfer going into a named family trust: 30 Trenton St., 100 Warwick Rd., 34 Russet Lane, 62 Vinton St. Unit 2, 314 Swains Pond Ave., 345 Vinton St., 180 Green St. Unit 502 and 16 Willow St. These are typically estate-planning transfers and do not carry a sale price in registry data. The period's property mix included at least three condominium units, at 534 Main St., 62 Vinton St. and 180 Green St., alongside single-family and multi-name residential transfers. One transaction, a $380,000 sale with no street address listed, involved a seller identified as Salem Five Mortgage Company LLC alongside an individual, with the buyer listed as JCG Investments LLC. Beds, baths and square footage were not available in the deed data for any property in this period.

Recorded Deeds

Source: Registry of Deeds. Sale amounts shown as recorded; transfers without a disclosed consideration are noted as such.

Compiled from official town feeds, community organizations, and local press. Outside reporting is attributed inline.