Three Multimillion-Dollar Sales Push Cambridge Home Prices Toward $2.76 Million

CAMBRIDGE -- Fifteen property transfers were recorded in Cambridge between Sept. 4 and Oct. 3, led by a $2.76 million sale on Walker Street to Harvard University, according to deed records from the South Middlesex Registry of Deeds.

MARKET OVERVIEW

Of the 15 recorded transfers, nine carry a recorded sale price so far, ranging from $619,900 to $2,760,000. The median sale price among those nine is $725,000. The remaining six transfers show no price yet; under registry reporting patterns, a price typically posts within about a week of recording, and several of these unpriced transfers involve a seller and buyer with matching names, consistent with a family or trust transfer rather than an open-market sale. The 15 recorded deeds reflect a measured volume for the four-week period, with transactions concentrated in two price bands: single-family homes above $2 million and condominium units at or below $850,000.

TOP SALES

The highest-priced transaction was 12 Walker St., which sold for $2,760,000 on Sept. 8. The sellers were Rebecca A. Dempster and Benjamin I. Dempster; the buyer was the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Second was 22 Madison Ave., which sold for $2,610,000 on Sept. 8; Madison Avenue Realty LLC sold to Hieu Nguyen. Third was 4 Hurlbut St., which sold for $2,250,000 on Sept. 4; the sellers were John Kuehnle and the Estate of John C. Kuehnle, and the buyers were James Berke and Katherine Spring. A fourth transaction, a Cambridge property sold by Russell Street Investments LLC to Mary Patricia Fralick, closed for $850,000 on Sept. 9; a specific street address was not included in the available deed data. Rounding out the top tier were three condominium units at 195 Green St. (Units 1, 2 and 4), each sold for $725,000 on Sept. 4, all by Olivia LLC to buyer Mingzhi Dou.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Two streets had multiple same-day transactions involving the same parties. At 195 Green St., three separate units sold on Sept. 4, all from seller Olivia LLC to the same buyer, Mingzhi Dou, at $725,000 each. At 308 Brookline St., two units (4B and 5C) sold on Sept. 4 from sellers Leonard Korn and the Estate of Michael Koran to the same buyer, Michelle Schou; neither sale has a recorded price yet. By price tier, three sales closed above $1 million (Walker Street, Madison Avenue and Hurlbut Street), six sales closed between $500,000 and $1 million (the Cambridge property on Russell Street Investments' sale, the three Green Street units, Chauncy Street and Massachusetts Avenue), and no recorded sales fell below $500,000. The remaining six transfers, spread across Fayette Street, Garden Street, Forest Street and Fenno Street in addition to the two Brookline Street units, have no price on record yet.

MARKET NOTES

Nine of the 15 recorded transfers involve a specific condominium unit number, indicating condos made up the majority of recorded transactions in the period, while the top three sales by price were all single-family homes. Four of the six unpriced transfers, at Fayette Street, Garden Street, Forest Street and Fenno Street, show a seller and buyer with matching surnames and a trustee designation on the buyer side, a pattern consistent with a property being moved into a family trust. Bedroom, bathroom and square-footage figures are not available in deed records and are not reported here.

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.