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Concord estate goes for $8.6m, shatters record

Area sales reflect gains in high-end market

The property on Concord’s Fairhaven Hill Road that recently sold for $8.6 million includes a post-and-beam barn with a basketball court, heated outdoor pool and spa, tennis courts, and a four-car heated garage.

The property on Concord’s Fairhaven Hill Road that recently sold for $8.6 million includes a post-and-beam barn with a basketball court, heated outdoor pool and spa, tennis courts, and a four-car heated garage.

A record-shattering $8.6 million paid for a mansion in Concord is the latest in a resurgence of seven-figure real estate deals across the western suburbs.

The sale of the 16-acre spread overlooking Walden Woods comes on the heels of a $5.2 million home sale in Concord in February, and last year’s $15.6 million sale of a 20-room estate in Weston, the second highest sale ever recorded in Massachusetts, according to records at the Middlesex South District Registry of Deeds.

The main house on the 16-acre estate on Fairhaven Hill Road has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

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The main house on the 16-acre estate on Fairhaven Hill Road has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

In addition to Concord, area communities with big-ticket real estate properties — such as Dover, Lexington, Needham, Newton, Sherborn, Sudbury, Wellesley, and Weston — have all seen sales increase since 2009 and 2010, when the economy hit bottom, according to the Warren Group, a Boston real estate publisher and data firm.

“We have seen more sales across the board in all price ranges, and we have definitely seen the high-end price range pick up as well,” said Chris Ridick, a sales associate at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New England, one of the agents involved in the record-breaking sale of 281 Fairhaven Hill Road in Concord.

The sale broke a town price record that had been in place since 2003, when 175 Monument Farm Road fetched $6.5 million, according to Registry of Deeds records.

‘It was built on the spot where Thoreau always kept hiking to, overlooking all of Walden Woods.’

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Still, the big price was not surprising given the estate’s location and other enticements, according to Ridick and fellow Coldwell Banker agent Brigitte Senkler, who worked on the deal as well.

The 9,000-square-foot, six-bedroom, seven-bath home sits atop 16 acres abutting Walden Woods conservation land, with panoramic views of Boston’s skyline to the east and Mount Wachusett to the west. It was purchased by Fairhaven Hill LLC.

The home also comes with a post-and-beam barn containing a basketball court as well as a kitchen and a stone fireplace. That’s in addition to a heated outdoor pool and spa, tennis courts, and a four-car heated garage, according to a Coldwell Banker announcement on the sale of the property.

There is also a Thoreau connection. The plateau where the house sits was a favorite haunt of the famous Concord writer and naturalist, Senkler said.

“It was built on the spot where Thoreau always kept hiking to, overlooking all of Walden Woods — it is surrounded by acres and acres of Walden Woods,” Senkler said.

Still, the big Concord sale is just one of dozens of sales of other homes with price tags from just over $1 million to more than $5 million across the area.

Concord had 14 of the $1 million-plus sales during the first five months of the year, compared with five during the same period in 2010, while neighboring Lexington had 37 homes sell for more than a million through the end of May, compared with 16 during the first five months of 2009, the Warren Group reports.

Other upscale communities that have seen similar rebounds in million-dollar sales include:

 Newton, with 48 this year, compared with 23 during the first five months of 2009.

 Weston, with 27 through May, compared with 16 during early 2009.

 Wellesley, with 59 through May, compared with 28 in the same period in 2011 and 2009.

  Needham, with 24 during the first five months of the year, compared with 19 during the same period in 2009.

  Sudbury, with seven through May, compared with one during the same period in 2009.

  Dover had six through May, compared with three during the same period in 2009.

  Sherborn had four this year, compared with none during the first half of 2009.

Despite the increase in the number of homes fetching at least a million dollars, wealthy buyers, like those of more modest means, are still looking for a bargain, Ridick said.

The buyers of the $8.6 million Concord mansion got a roughly $2 million discount, considering the property was originally put on the market for $10.5 million.

A young couple with plans to start a family, the buyers paid cash, which is fairly common on homes worth more than $1.5 million, Ridick said.

Wealthy buyers “have seen prices come down significantly where they see the real value in those properties,” Ridick said.