No wonder downtown Boston always feels so dynamic, so hip. Wait a second ... no it doesn't. Downtown Boston is a vast veldt of people living alone and empty-nesters running out the clock. Yes, there are families about, even families with young children, but everybody knows they bought in/leased up years ago. As it stands now, most new Boston apartment development is geared toward the singletons and empty-nesters, who can not only happily inhabit the various studio, one- and two-bedrooms out there but who apparently can afford them as well.
Take the empty-nesters. These baby boomers are willing to pay six- and seven-figure premiums for less space than they owned before elsewhere to be in what's become one of the most charming—and physically accessible—cities in America. They are moving into Boston in trend-piece-worthy droves. (Are you reading, developers?) From a Jennifer B. McKim piece in The Globe:
The Siegelmans decided to move to Boston in 2007 when their only daughter was graduating from Boston University. Lois Siegelman grew up in Dorchester and wanted to get back to city living. They sold their Concord home for $840,000 and purchased a $1 million condominium on Constellation Wharf in Charlestown, realizing Lois's dream of living by the water.
Where's this leave the families with young kids (or the just plain young "kids")? Increasingly out in Boston's proverbial real estate cold. Housing prices and rents keep going up, with little leveling-off in sight (never mind drops), and the sorts of developments under way presage yet more for the Siegelmans, formerly of Concord.
There is one ray of hope for the young: "... Laurie and John Cadigan, both in their mid 50s, ... moved last month from a Colonial in Concord to a two-bedroom on Constellation Wharf. She has three children in their 20s and one of them is still living with them, enjoying free rent in the city.
· For Some Empty Nesters, City Living Is Just Right [Globe]
· Group Wanting to Make Boston Hip Loves Boston the Way It Is [Curbed Boston]
· Boston Is for Lovers (Just Not Their Kids): a New Apt. Dynamic [Curbed Boston]
· Why the Hub Housing Market Could Get Worse, Much Worse [Curbed Boston]
· Kids Today! Why Fewer Young Folk Own in Greater Boston [Curbed Boston]
· How Downtown Boston Lives: Alone [Curbed Boston]