For Colleen Kavanagh, an entrepreneur, and her accountant husband, Matt Guida, the town of Falmouth, Maine, is the perfect mix of city and country. The couple and their 2-year-old daughter relocated from Boston in September to Ms. Kavanagh’s home state to fulfill their lifelong dream of renovating a historic home. They recently purchased a five-bedroom, 5½-bathroom, 4,500-square-foot home for $830,000 in Falmouth. “We started looking around the Portland suburbs,” Ms. Kavanagh said. “But in my heart, I knew where I wanted to be.”

Where she wanted to be was a 32-square-mile town boasting rocky coastline, rural farmland, and, according to U.S. News & World Report, the No. 4 public school system in the state. Located about 5 miles from Portland, which is home to numerous James Beard Award-winning chef-led restaurants, Falmouth enjoys the duality of the rural Maine lifestyle and proximity to country clubs, Casco Bay, and the cultural offerings of the state’s largest city.

Aided in part by the pandemic, Falmouth’s market is hot and it has surpassed many of its neighbors. In the town, which has a population of just over 12,000, 77 single-family homes sold between July and October 2020, a 108% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to realtor.com data. Eight homes sold for more than $1 million. The average price per square foot is $233, up over 5% in 12 months. As of November 2020, the average listing price for a single-family home in Falmouth was $848,000, compared with $758,000 in 2017.

In the nearby town of Cumberland, which has a population of about 8,500 and where the price per square foot is $224, 34 single-family homes sold between July and October 2020, up 42% from 2019. However, only one sale exceeded $1 million. Freeport, roughly 14 miles to the north, also home to about 8,500 people, has a price per square foot of $231 and saw 32 single-family homes sold between July and October 2020, an increase of 45% over 2019, also with only one sale over $1 million.

Only Yarmouth, with about 8,500 residents, which neighbors Falmouth and enjoys a similarly rated school system (U.S. News & World Report ranks it third in the state), has a market as robust, with sales up 80% between the July to October 2020 period compared with the same period a year earlier. However, only 18 homes sold in that July to October 2020 period, none over $1 million.

This post first appeared on wsj.com

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