Wakefield home prices hold above $700,000 median in October sales

WAKEFIELD -- Six properties changed hands at market prices in Wakefield in October, with sale prices ranging from $186,500 to $990,000, while 11 of the month's 17 recorded deeds were nominal-consideration transfers, mostly moving property into trusts or among family members rather than onto the open market.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The South Middlesex Registry of Deeds recorded 17 property transfers in Wakefield between Oct. 2 and Oct. 31. Of those, six carried a market sale price, ranging from $186,500 to $990,000, with a median of $730,000. The remaining 11 transfers were recorded for nominal consideration, meaning no price is reported for them under registry rules. With only six priced sales for the month, the raw count suggests limited open-market activity, though the median price among those sales was well above $700,000.

TOP SALES

The month's highest-priced sale was 317 Main St., Unit A, which sold for $990,000 on Oct. 9. The seller was listed as M Wakefield Properties LLC, trustee, and the buyer as Main Street Wakefield Holdings LLC. The unit designation indicates the property is a condominium unit.

4 Pleasant St. sold for $949,000 on Oct. 5. Eric Paul sold the property to Steven Ruotolo and Edisel Jarama.

20 Plymouth Rd. sold for $740,000 on Oct. 8. The seller was Joel McCarthy, trustee of the Curtis Clifford McCarthy Irrevocable Trust, and the buyers were Michael Powers and Michaela Obrien.

370 Albion St. sold for $720,000 on Oct. 9. The seller was Christopher M. Bender, trustee of the Bender Family Trust, and the buyers were Kanchan Kandel and Shristi Tiwari.

48 Valley St. sold for $689,000 on Oct. 7. Francesco and Maria Casamassima sold the property to Jorge Misael Perez Pineda and Pedro Antonio Hernandez Vasquez.

A sixth transfer, recorded without a specific street address, sold for $186,500 on Oct. 14. The seller was John E. Distefano, and the buyer was listed as a realty trust.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

No street recorded more than one priced sale in October. By price tier, five of the six priced sales fell between $500,000 and $1 million: 317 Main St. Unit A ($990,000), 4 Pleasant St. ($949,000), 20 Plymouth Rd. ($740,000), 370 Albion St. ($720,000) and 48 Valley St. ($689,000). One sale, with no street address recorded, fell under $500,000 at $186,500.

Among the 11 nominal-consideration transfers, properties were spread across Pine Street, Stark Avenue, Ledgewood Road, Preston Street, Winship Drive, Salem Street, Houston Street, Renwick Road, Kimball Avenue, Hancock Road and Lakeview Avenue, with no street repeating and no geographic cluster evident.

MARKET NOTES

Eleven of the 17 recorded deeds in October, nearly two-thirds, were nominal-consideration transfers rather than open-market sales. In each of these cases, the grantor and grantee names matched or overlapped, for example Dawn Townshend transferring 24 Stark Ave. to herself as trustee of the Stark Avenue Realty Trust, and Linell S. Nester transferring 11 Hancock Rd. to herself as trustee of the Linell S. Nester Family Trust. Similar patterns appeared at 12 Ledgewood Rd., 61 Winship Dr., 22 Salem St., 6 Houston St., 14 Kimball Ave. and 13 Lakeview Ave., where sellers and buyers shared the same surname, often with one party listed as trustee.

No square footage or bedroom and bathroom data was available for any property this month, so no price-per-square-foot comparisons could be made. One priced sale, 317 Main St. Unit A, was identified as a condominium unit based on its unit designation; property type could not be determined for the other transfers from the data provided.

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.