30 | <strong>01907</strong> HOME IS WHERE THE VALUE IS BY THOMAS GRILLO If you purchased a home in Swampscott a decade ago, give your neighbor a high-five. Since 2009, the median price for a single-family home has swelled by a whopping 46 percent. A house that cost $395,500 in 2009 is likely to fetch $577,750 or more today, according to The Warren Group, the Boston real estate tracker. Claire Dembowski, a real estate sales agent at Re/Max Advantage Real Estate with more than 40 years experience selling homes in town, said it's easy to down. But we have quality schools, there's good parental involvement, and excellent sports programs." Consider these numbers from last year's MCAS test scores. Among 10th graders, 97 percent scored proficient or advanced in the English exam, 89 percent in science, and 90 percent in science, all well above the state average, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education. Swampscott High School boasted a graduation rate of 94 percent last year while nearly 86 percent of its graduates 219 housing permits. The Hanover Vinnin Square apartment complex on Paradise Road comprised 184 of those. But it did not include any affordable units, according to Swampscott Housing Production Plan. The 2016 survey said of the 353 proposed units in the pipeline over the next few years in nine developments, all are market rate. The state has required a minimum of 10 percent of the community's housing be affordable with deed restrictions since the Dukakis administration in the 1970s. $600K $550K MEDIAN PRICE $500K $450K $400K $350K 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Source: The Warren Group YEAR see why Swampscott is a good value. If you follow the MBTA train line from Boston north, you run into what she calls the "second ring" of desirable communities including Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Melrose, and Malden, which have also seen tremendous growth. "Swampscott is the third ring because the trains come through here," she said. "We have always been well-positioned because there are four ways to get to Boston: by car, bus, commuter rail and the Blue Line from Wonderland." The buyers coming to Swampscott, she said, are new parents from Boston, Cambridge and Somerville who are seeking more space, a backyard, and better schools. "I always say, we are not the top when it comes to schools," she said candidly. "We are not Weston, Wellesley, Wayland, or Lexington. We are the next group enrolled in a college or university. The town has two real estate markets, Dembowski said. The first are homes priced from $300,000 to the $800,000, the rest is the $1 million plus market, which is quite different, she added. "There are fewer higher priced homes and they don't sell as fast," she said. At press time, there were 23 singlefamily homes for sale in Swampscott on the MLS Property Information Network priced from $415,900 for a six-room Colonial on Humphrey Street to $8.3 million for a five-bedroom, 11,444-squarefoot Tudor Colonial on Puritan Lane. Ten of the homes listed are priced at $1 million or over. Only four are listed below $500,000. Finding an affordable house in Swampscott is a challenge, say brokers. Between 2005 and 2014, the town issued Of Swampscott's 5,795 units, only 212, or less than 4 percent, meets the criteria, according to the Department of Housing and Community Development. A goal listed in the survey is to provide seniors with greater housing options. One project that could be a partial solution is transforming the shuttered Machon Elementary School into homes for elders. B’nai B’rith Housing, a nonprofit that builds affordable homes for seniors, has failed to get the funding to do the conversion for 38 affordable units on Burpee Road. Brokers say housing in all price ranges for all ages is needed to bring relief. Swampscott buyers are a demanding clientele, they want good grocery stores, shops, and medical services, say agents. "We are very privileged," Dembowski said. "It's a very good quality of life."
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