Danvers Gets Honorable Mention in Top Spots to Live North of Boston

Danvers got an honorable mention earlier this week as one of Greater Boston's top spots to live.

The status was bestowed by the Boston Globe Magazine in a survey of communities in Eastern Massachusetts where the real estate market is "sizzling," according to the Globe and the Warren Group. They say the market is on the rise and steady, or even small gains in home prices are proving to greatly influence homebuyers' decisions more than other factors.

Top billing went to 13 cities and towns where home prices increased the most between 2011 and 2012 and represented relatively safe investments for homebuyers, according to the report.

Danvers didn't exactly make that short list, which did include Swampscott, Beverly, Topsfield and Newbury on the North Shore, but it was among 19 other communities that still showed marked increases in home prices.

According to data from the Warren Group, Danvers' median single-family home price in 2012 was $343,450, which represented an increase of 6.91 percent from 2011.

On the North Shore, Peabody and Gloucester were also given honorable mentions, with the former showing a 5.26 percent increase up to $300,000 on median home prices for that same period.

The report also briefly looked at condo prices: Gloucester, Lynn and Middleton ranged between 18 and 32 percent increases in prices between 2011 and 2012.

You can read the rest of the report in the Boston Globe Magazine here.