Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal | February 22, 2021 | wbjournal.com F O C U S B A N K I N G & F I N A N C E Find business insights and sponsored content articles with relevant and helpful tips and tools for your business. www.wbjournal.com/sponsored/business-insights BIZ MARKETPLACE WBJ WBJ Biz Marketplace is a sponsored content section of wbjournal.com Continued from Page 17 Pandemic sets prices soaring e pandemic has sent some residents fleeing from a few of the country's highest-price markets such as New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Greater Boston has so far avoided that fate, perhaps at least in part because of its reliance on colleges, hospitals and life sciences companies whose work largely can't be done remotely, said Steve Medeiros, the president of the Massa- chusetts Association of Realtors. For Central Massachusetts, that ap- pears to have meant that people looking to leave crowded – and typically expen- sive – Boston neighborhoods might be looking to closer-by affordable commu- nities. Why exactly someone is moving somewhere can never be fully known for sure, said Tim Warren, the CEO of e Warren Group, a Peabody-based real estate analysis firm. "It's impossible to tell from the data," Warren said. "When you're writing the deed, you don't write down why you're buying the house." Still, Warren said, Central Massachu- setts is likely benefitting from a middle ground between denser cities seeing people move away during the pandem- ic and high-cost areas like Nantucket seeing price skyrocket as wealthy buyers pick up second homes. Tim Long, a realtor and sales manager at Milford's Fafard Real Estate, said he's seen significant demand for the compa- ny's new area developments, including Westminster Place in Holden and Pa- triot's Landing in Uxbridge, particularly from first-time home buyers. "ose have been really hot," Long said. Prices in Central Massachusetts spiked in 2020 in most cities and towns, but because the same phenomenon took place nearly everywhere, the region was not a standout across Massachusetts or Mass. residential real estate, by county, in 2020 2020 number % change 2020 % change Dollar of sales from 2019 median price from 2019 change Nantucket 250 71.2% $2,012,500 34.2% $512,500 Dukes 396 46.1% $967,500 19.9% $160,500 Suffolk 1,306 -8.0% $620,000 9.0% $51,250 Middlesex 11,795 0.1% $615,000 10.3% $57,250 Norfolk 6,842 4.2% $566,500 8.3% $43,500 Essex 6,693 -1.2% $520,000 13.3% $61,000 Barnstable 5,297 20.6% $475,000 15.9% $65,000 Plymouth 6,577 5.3% $435,000 12.1% $47,000 Bristol 4,978 2.2% $355,000 9.3% $30,100 Worcester 8,788 2.4% $325,000 12.1% $35,000 Hampshire 1,382 0.6% $301,555 7.7% $21,555 Berkshire 1,864 21.2% $249,000 15.8% $34,000 Franklin 736 8.2% $239,538 6.9% $15,538 Hampden 4,565 0.6% $227,500 9.6% $20,000 Massachusetts 61,469 3.9% $445,500 11.4% $45,500 Source: The Warren Group Top 10 communities for home price increases, by percent, from 2019 The top 10 Central Massachusetts communities by sale price increase, as measured by percent, in 2020. 2020 % City/town median price change Millville $326,000 35.9% Warren $265,500 30.8% Blackstone $364,950 25.2% Ayer $430,000 24.3% Princeton $440,000 21.5% Athol $205,000 20.6% Phillipston $266,500 20.6% Brookfield $305,000 19.6% Berlin $459,900 19.5% Charlton $370,000 19.4% Source: The Warren Group Top 10 communities for home price increases, by dollars, from 2019 The top 10 Central Massachusetts communities by sale price increase, as measured by dollars, in 2020: 2020 Dollar City/town median price change Natick $712,500 $97,500 Millville $326,000 $86,050 Ayer $430,000 $84,000 Sherborn $873,750 $77,950 Princeton $440,000 $77,750 Berlin $459,900 $74,900 Blackstone $364,950 $73,450 Acton $671,000 $71,000 Holliston $540,000 $70,100 Littleton $537,000 $69,500 Source: The Warren Group Wachusett Valley Estates off Bullard Street in Holden next to Mayo Elementary School includes roughly three dozen single-family homes. PHOTO/GRANT WELKER

• Cover