Home prices may be surging in many towns and cities across the Bay State, but some communities in Essex County are seeing a different trend this year: moderate home price appreciation and, in several instances, even falling prices.

In at least four towns in Essex County – Middleton, Rowley, Manchester and Wenham – the median single-family home price fell anywhere from 7.5 percent to 13 percent during the first 10 months of the year compared with prices in 2003. Fewer than 10 percent of the state’s 351 communities – only 32 towns and cities – experienced a drop in median prices from January through October compared to the same period last year, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman, which collects sales statistics from the state’s registries of deeds.

Countywide, the median price for single-family homes sold through October of this year increased 9 percent compared to a year ago.

However, at least six out of only 39 Bay State communities where the median selling price increased less than 5 percent during that time are in Essex County. The majority of communities in Massachusetts had much stronger price gains. Statewide, median prices for single-family homes jumped 11 percent during the first 10 months of 2004, rising to $326,700 from $294,000 during the same period last year.

“We’re at a point where the market has moderated,” said Tom Carroll, one of the broker-owners of Re/Max Partners in Andover.

Still, Carroll maintained, “We’re not seeing price declines. We’re seeing price stability.”

Local Realtors interviewed by Banker & Tradesman last week insisted that the real estate market remains robust and will continue at a steady pace as long as interest rates stay low and the overall economy is healthy.

Patricia Marcotte, a real estate broker in Beverly, said there have been a few more price adjustments this year, with a lot of properties taking longer to sell, and home sellers who are asking for higher prices are not always getting them.

“It’s [the real estate market] shifting a little,” acknowledged Marcotte, of Re/Max Advantage Real Estate in Beverly.

But Marcotte, citing information from the MLS Property Information Network, said it’s still a “pretty strong market,” with the median asking price for homes available for sale in Essex County reaching $509,000 in November.

Carroll, the Andover real estate broker, said the residential real estate market seems to be “very price-driven.”

“If the market perceives a home as being priced right, it will sell,” he said.

In Middleton, where the median price for single-family homes sold through October of this year slipped 7.5 percent to $440,000 from $476,000 last year, real estate broker Sherry Venezia said she believes the market has been affected in part by a zoning bylaw that restricts the number of building permits than can be issued annually in new subdivisions.

Venezia, who works for Century 21 deAn Tri-Town in Middleton, said a lot of new construction has taken place in town in the last 15 years. In the past five years, many of those newly built homes have been in priced at the high end of the market – between $700,000 and $1 million. Homes over $800,000 are selling quickly, Venezia maintains.

But more recently, with the building permit restriction in place, many of the single-family homes that have come on the market are properties in older subdivisions that are selling in the $350,000 to $500,000 price range, she said. In Middleton, where 76 single-family homes were sold during the first 10 months of 2004, up from 63 a year ago, the real estate market consists of homes priced under $500,000 or above $750,000 with very little in between, she said.

Despite the median home price drop, Venezia says the market has been performing well with an average marketing time of between 30 and 60 days.

Middleton isn’t the only Essex County town that has experienced a decline in median sale prices. In Wenham, a small community where 49 single-family residences were sold through October of this year, and Manchester-by-the-Sea, a seaside community, the median price for single-family homes dropped 10 percent.

Wenham’s single-family home median price fell to $529,900 through October this year from $590,000 last year, while Manchester’s median price dropped to $552,300 from $615,000 in the prior year.

In Rowley, a small Essex County town with about 5,500 residents just north of Ipswich where 44 single-family homes were sold from January through October, the median home sale price fell 13 percent from $435,000 to $378,650.

No ‘Significant Problems’

Meanwhile, some other towns in Essex County have seen more moderate price climbs. Danvers, Topsfield, Methuen, Groveland, West Newbury and Hamilton have seen gains of less than 5 percent in their single-family home median selling prices this year. About 80 percent of cities and towns in Massachusetts experienced price gains of greater than 5 percent.

In Methuen, where the number of single-family homes sold increased 10.6 percent from 402 during the first 10 months of 2003 to 445 during the same period this year, the median selling price climbed 3.7 percent to $277,900.

Danvers’ single-family median selling price during those same months, $372,500, was just under 5 percent higher than the prior year.

Lois Williams, senior vice president and residential manager of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Topsfield, said one reason price appreciation may be more modest in communities like Topsfield, Danvers and Rowley is that there hasn’t been a lot of new home construction – which tends to drive up prices in other Essex County towns.

In Georgetown, for example, where there’s been a boom in new-home construction, the median selling price for a single-family home has jumped 22 percent to $420,000 so far this year.

Unlike Georgetown, Topsfield – where the median price for a single-family home reached $526,500 during the first 10 months of the year or only 2.2 percent higher than the prior year – is largely built- out, with few lots available for new housing, according to Williams.

Despite Topsfield’s slower rate of price appreciation, Williams pointed to some high-end sales in that town this year, including a 16-room Colonial that sold for more than $3.1 million in June and a custom Colonial that went for $1.7 million the same month.

While there have been more homes available for sale during the latter part of the year, Williams said the market is strong and she doesn’t anticipate a price drop.

In fact, Williams said her office had its best September and November ever this year.

“We’re seeing nothing that indicates we’re going to have significant problems,” she said. “I’m looking at it as being a good market but one where we need to be well aware of how we price things.”

While a small cluster of Essex County communities saw median home prices drop, cities and towns scattered throughout other parts of Massachusetts also saw price declines. They include: Cambridge (3 percent); Southborough (3.3 percent); Adams (5.3 percent); and Lenox (12.9 percent).