Reading Home Sale Prices Range From $895,000 To $1.51 Million

READING -- The South Middlesex Registry of Deeds recorded 17 property transfers in Reading between July 31 and Aug. 29, but just five carried a disclosed sale price. The rest were transfers into family or revocable trusts, a pattern that limits what the recorded data shows about the town's open-market activity.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Of the 17 recorded transfers, five included a disclosed consideration amount, ranging from $895,000 to $1,510,000. The median of those five disclosed prices was $950,000. Taken at face value, a raw count of 17 recorded deeds in a four-week span suggests a level of activity, but the data does not support characterizing the month as active or quiet in market terms, since 12 of the 17 transfers appear to be same-family trust transfers rather than arm's-length sales. The five transactions with disclosed prices all involved a change in surname between seller and buyer, consistent with open-market sales.

TOP SALES

The month's highest recorded price was $1,510,000 for 84 King St., sold Aug. 4 by Jeffery R. Putz and Tracey L. Mara to Gregory Mason. The next-highest was 377 Pearl St., which sold for $985,000 on July 31; Joseph C. Lamarca and Megan E. Gladden sold the property to Alec and Samantha Livingston. At 51 Grove St., Darren C. and Allison L. Conine sold to Zackary and Kelley Gorman for $950,000 on July 31. A sale at 79 Martin Rd. closed Aug. 6 for $937,500, with Elena M. Dundin selling to Victor and Mary Magaletta. The lowest of the disclosed sales was 18 Wells Rd. at $895,000, recorded Aug. 10, sold by Ross J. Venuti Tr. and Katharine F. Venuti Tr. to Evelyn Ruff and Eliot Gault.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

The 17 transfers were spread across 16 different streets, including Wells Road, Oak Street, Mount Vernon Street, Warren Avenue, Sanborn Street, Charles Street, Gleason Road, Martin Road, Parsons Lane, Johnson Woods Drive, Prescott Street, King Street, Kieran Street, Pearl Street, Grove Street and Carriage Lane; no street had more than one recorded transfer, so no street-level concentration emerged. By price tier among the disclosed sales, four fell under $1 million ($895,000, $937,500, $950,000 and $985,000) and one exceeded $1 million ($1,510,000 at King Street).

MARKET NOTES

Twelve of the 17 recorded transfers, or about 71%, moved property from an individual or couple into a trust bearing the same family surname, such as the DM Williams Family Trust, the RG Mansfield Family Trust and the Ryan Revocable Family Trust. Deed records do not disclose a sale price for any of these 12 transfers. One additional transfer, at 9 Carriage Lane, moved the property from Carmine and Paula Pacitto to Carmine Pacitto individually, also without a disclosed price. Beds, baths and square footage are not available from the deed records reviewed for this report, and the data does not indicate property type (single-family, condominium or multi-family) for any of the 17 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.