Melrose home sales cluster near $900,000 median in latest recorded deeds

MELROSE -- The South Middlesex Registry of Deeds recorded 18 property transfers in Melrose between Aug. 21 and Sept. 19, but only seven of them carry a sale price so far, with the priciest reaching $1,170,000.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Of the 18 recorded transfers, seven have a recorded sale price, ranging from $670,000 to $1,170,000. The median among those seven is $893,000. The other 11 transfers have not yet had a price recorded; that is normal for deed data and does not indicate the price was withheld, since prices typically post to the registry within about a week of recording. Eighteen recorded transfers in four weeks is a moderate count for Melrose on its own, but with 11 of those entries still pending price data, the priced sample is too small to characterize the month's price direction with confidence.

TOP SALES

The month's highest recorded sale was 25 Cumner Ave at $1,170,000, sold Aug. 31 by sellers Christine Mara and Pamela McHale, both listed as trustees, to buyers Michael Bekkenhuis and William Chleapas. Second was 26 Garden St at $1,026,000, sold Aug. 31 by the Boynton Nominee Trust, with Carolyn L. Boynton Bruen as trustee, to buyer Amanda Dail. Third was 29 Park St at $922,000, sold Aug. 21 by the Christine L. Carr Revocable Trust, with Christine L. Carr as trustee, to buyers Lee Koska and Madeline Soule. Fourth was 16 Ells Ave at $893,000, sold Aug. 31 by sellers Scott C. Alley and Joan Haynes, trustee, to buyers Marat Usmanov and Shilin Zhou. Fifth was 17 Echo St at $855,000, sold Sept. 1 by seller Miaoli Lin to buyer Weerasak Khamsri.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

No two of the 18 recorded transfers, priced or unpriced, shared a street name, so no single-street cluster emerged this period. Among the seven sales with a recorded price, two fell under $700,000: 3 Winter Pl Unit 3 at $670,000 and 6 Birch Hill Rd at $690,000. Three fell in the $700,000-to-$1 million range: 17 Echo St, 16 Ells Ave and 29 Park St. Two topped $1 million: 26 Garden St and 25 Cumner Ave. The 11 transfers awaiting a recorded price are spread across separate streets throughout town, including Warwick Road, Russet Lane, Swains Pond Avenue, Vinton Street, Green Street, Willow Street, East Foster Street, Woodland Avenue, Winthrop Street and Morgan Street, plus one entry recorded without a street address.

MARKET NOTES

A clear pattern separates the two groups of transfers this period. All seven sales with a recorded price involved a change of ownership between unrelated buyers and sellers. All 11 transfers without a recorded price show the same seller's name reappearing as the buyer, typically moving the property into that person's own revocable trust: examples include 100 Warwick Rd (Maria Evelyn Swaim to the Maria Evelyn Swaim Revocable Trust), 314 Swains Pond Ave (Leo P. Muise to the Leo P. Muise Revocable Trust), 16 Willow St (Linda D. Buttimer to the Buttimer Family Revocable Living Trust), and 63 Morgan St (Stephen Anderson to Stephen Eugene Anderson and Deborah Williams Anderson as trustees), among others. Deed records do not indicate the reasoning behind these transfers. Property types were mostly single-family homes, though the dataset also includes at least two condominium units, 3 Winter Pl Unit 3 and 180 Green St Unit 502, and one sale, 6 Birch Hill Rd, went to an LLC buyer, Coos Caper LLC, rather than an individual. No bedroom, bathroom or square-footage data was available in the deed records for any of the 18 transfers.

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.