Home-hunters often treat the Boston region like the one big city that it almost was, with municipal boundaries a blur amid a perennially tight market that ferociously steady demand and frustratingly low supply drives. Nevertheless, there are stark price differences between cities and towns.
Below is an analysis by real estate research site NeighborhoodX of sales of market-rate condos in 2006 and 2015. It shows how the average condo price per square foot has increased over the past decade almost across the board and despite the Great Recession and concomitant housing collapse nationally. It would seem that our fair region stayed within its own hermetically sealed bubble.
A few takeaways:
- Boston's average condo price per square foot increased 39 percent from 2006 to 2015.
- As steep as that rise was, prices Cambridge (with an increase of 46 percent), Somerville (42 percent), and Brookline (41 percent) increased even more.
- Medford, Arlington, and Watertown saw more modest increases, but increases nonetheless.
- And, in Malden and Chelsea, average condo prices per square foot were essentially flat.
Two more things: We've already covered house prices across the region during the same time period (and that chart is below, too). And these amounts are not adjusted for inflation, but are meant as absolutes for comparison's sake.
- Greater Boston Condo Prices, 2006 vs. 2015 [NeighborhoodX]
- Greater Boston House Prices: How They've Changed Since 2006 [Curbed Boston]
- Boston's Physical Landscape: Four Huge Decisions That Shaped It [Curbed Boston]