Real estate agents in Dover, Melrose, Palmer, Hanover, Brookline and Wellesley have been much busier in the first four months of this year than they were a year earlier.

Those communities have had some of the biggest increases in home sales volume so far this year, according to The Warren Group. Home sales in Massachusetts surged 46 percent in April compared to the same month in 2009 and year-to-date sales are up 26 percent.

But home sales transactions more than doubled in places like Brookline and Hanover.

In Dover and Melrose, single-family home sales almost tripled in the first four months of the year, compared to the same period in 2009.

In the western part of the state, Palmer’s home sales rose a whopping 153 percent to 43 from 17 last year.

And in the highly desirable towns of Brookline and Wellesley sales more than doubled. In Brookline, home sales transactions rose from 13 last year to 31, while Wellesley recorded 82 home sales compared to just 35 a year earlier.