By Aglaia Pikounis

Maybe it’s just envy, but I always find it kind of interesting to see what’s happening in Massachusetts communities that most average working people, including me, can’t afford to live in – like Weston and Wellesley.

 At a time when most towns and cities were suffering through the housing slump, Wellesley was joining the exclusive million-dollar club: The median home price in the toney town topped $1 million in 2008.  

Wellesley joins Weston, Lincoln, Brookline, Nantucket and three other communities where the median home price was higher than $1 million last year. Some homes were fetching millions of dollars. A 7,789-square-foot Colonial in Wellesley sold for $5.7 million last October. Talk to any real estate agent and they’ll tell you that such desirable communities always fare better during a downturn. I’ll say … In Weston, the median home price jumped 7.5 percent from $1.22 million in 2007 to over $1.3 million in 2008. A mansion on nearly three acres in Weston went for a head-turning $10 million last summer.

Interestingly, one community had to say good-bye to the million-dollar club in 2008. Dover, which reached the $1 million threshold in 2007, saw its price retreat to $998,500 in 2008.