SAUGUS — For the last two years, single-family home sales and prices in Lynn have been off the charts.
But Saugus is showing signs of becoming the latest North Shore community to put sellers in the driver’s seat.
Sales of single-family homes in August increased by nearly 17 percent while the median price reached the highest on record, according to new data from The Warren Group.
Last month, 42 homes were sold in Saugus, up from three dozen for the same time last year. The median price of a home soared to $467,500 in August, up from $447,500 one year ago, a 4.5 percent increase.
Barbara Peterson, the broker-owner of E.W. Peterson & Son Real Estate in Saugus, said she’s not surprised the community is being discovered by buyers.
“We are still a town and people like that, we have lots of businesses along Route 1 that help keep residential taxes lower than other North Shore communities,” she said. “We are building a new middle and high school, and that’s been a big selling point.”
Lisa Smallwood, an agent at Carpenito Real Estate Inc. in Saugus, said the lack of inventory is driving prices up. At press time, there were 27 single-family homes for sale in town from a 4-bedroom, 2-bath bungalow that needs to be renovated for $305,900 to $1.4 million for a 5,892-square-foot Colonial that features 11 rooms on a half-acre lot on Pirates Glen Road.
August was also a strong month for Lynnfield. The number of single-family home sales doubled year-over-year while the median price climbed to $685,000, a 7.5 percent rise from 2017.
In Lynn, where brokers say homes are becoming increasingly out of reach for first time buyers, sales fell by 7 percent last month. At the same time, the median price of a single-family home rose by 8 percent to $394,900, up from $366,000 last year.
In Swampscott, sales were up by 19 percent while prices slipped by 12.5 percent to $629,000, compared to a year ago.
Peabody was the only community in The Item‘s coverage area to see sales and prices fall in August. Sales were off by 16 percent. At the same time, prices dropped by 3.3 percent to $435,000.
Nahant did not have enough transactions to post data.
