Mass. communities continue housing recovery

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The Massachusetts housing market continues to recover after the prices dropped during the Great Recession, with 46 communities exceeding price peaks in 2005, according to the Warren Group.

The Boston-based organization released a list Tuesday of the top and bottom 10 Massachusetts communities in median sale prices of single-family homes. The top communities with the biggest gains were all located in the eastern part of the state, while six of the 10 recording the biggest drops were located in Central Massachusetts.

Rounding out the top were communities around Boston, including Concord, Lexington, and Somerville. At the top of the list was Cambridge, with a 79.8-percent increase from the market’s peak in 2005, to 2014. Prices there rose to $1.2 million in 2014 from $667,500 in 2005, according to the group.

"Statewide, the median home price in Massachusetts peaked in 2005 at $355,000. Since then, we have seen 46 communities rebound from the crash in real estate prices and record an increase in the median selling price of homes," Timothy Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement. "Proximity to good jobs seem to be the common thread among the top communities.”

The 10 communities with the largest decreases in median prices were Athol, Fitchburg, Southbridge, Warren, Orange, Gardner, Winchendon, Barre, Randolph and New Bedford, according to the Warren Group. Athol suffered the largest drop, 36.1 percent, followed by Fitchburg, at 32 percent. In these communities, the number of sales dropped 20 to 50 percent, according to the group.

"In order for prices to rebound, an economic revitalization in these areas needs to occur,” Warren said. “With low-cost housing abundant, these communities should be able to attract business relocations and start-ups."