Topsfield home sale hits $1.375 million as median price reaches $1,075,000

TOPSFIELD -- A Timber Lane property sold for $1,375,000 last month, the highest price among 14 deeds recorded in Topsfield between July 24 and Aug. 22. Half of the period's recorded transfers, however, involved sellers and buyers sharing a surname or a trust taking title from the same family, none of which disclosed a sale price.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The Essex South Registry of Deeds recorded 14 property transfers in Topsfield during the period, but only seven listed a sale price. Among those seven, prices ranged from $537,500 to $1,375,000, with a median of $1,075,000. Because half the transactions carried no disclosed consideration, many likely reflecting internal family or trust transfers rather than open-market sales, the disclosed-price sample is smaller than the raw count of 14 suggests. Based on the seven priced sales alone, the period is not unusually active or quiet; the data does not include comparable figures from prior months to support that judgment.

TOP SALES

The highest-priced sale was 22 Timber Lane, Lot 10, which sold for $1,375,000 on Aug. 21. Stephen V. Majeski sold the property to Daniel Keeler.

5 Blueberry Lane sold for $1,300,000 on Aug. 7, with Gerard L. McCarthy selling to Angela Daley.

8 Millbrook Lane, Lot 1, sold for $1,275,000 on Aug. 4. John H. Mitchell sold the property to Neil Shea.

189 Ipswich Road, Lot 16, sold for $1,075,000 on Aug. 3, matching the period's median. Matthew R. Fullerton sold to Alexander Rogers.

188 Washington Street, Lot 4, sold for $800,000 on Aug. 17. Robert J. Cattell sold the property to Christopher Nys.

NEIGHBORHOOD BREAKDOWN

Two streets each had two recorded transfers. Washington Street saw sales at Lot 4 ($800,000, disclosed) and Lot 2 (price not disclosed, a transfer between two people sharing the surname Yeo). Kinsman Lane also had two transfers, both with no disclosed price: Lot 21 passed between two people sharing the surname Richards, and Lot 24 was transferred by Derek Gustafson to Derek Gustafson as trustee.

470 Boston Street, a condominium building, had two unit sales, Unit 16 and Unit 9, neither with a disclosed price; both involved a trust taking or holding title within the same family.

By price tier among the seven disclosed sales: three fell between $500,000 and $1 million (Evergreen Lane at $537,500, Summer Street at $707,500, and Washington Street at $800,000), and four exceeded $1 million (Ipswich Road, Millbrook Lane, Blueberry Lane, and Timber Lane).

MARKET NOTES

Seven of the 14 recorded deeds, exactly half, appear to be transfers within the same family or into a trust rather than open-market sales: 31 Kinsman Lane (Richards to Richards), 8 Birch Lane (Shapiro-Durand to her own trust), 470 Boston Street Unit 16 (Forlizzi to her own trust), 192 Washington Street (Yeo to Yeo), 15 Lockwood Lane (DiChiara Nominee Trust to Michele DiChiara), 470 Boston Street Unit 9 (the Jones family trust to a Jones family irrevocable trust), and 21 Kinsman Lane (Gustafson to his own trust). None of these seven listed a sale price, which is consistent with non-arm's-length transfers.

Nine of the 14 addresses carry lot numbers, at Timber Lane, Evergreen Lane, Kinsman Lane (both), Birch Lane, Washington Street (both), Millbrook Lane and Ipswich Road, suggesting these properties belong to subdivided development parcels rather than long-established single lots. The remaining transfers were condominium units, at 470 Boston Street (two units) and 3 Summer Street, or standalone parcels without lot designations, at 15 Lockwood Lane and 5 Blueberry Lane. Bed, bath and square footage figures are not available in deed records, so no price-per-square-foot comparison can be made.

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.