Boston median asking price up 44 percent in the past five years: Report

The median asking price for a Boston home increased 44 percent from December 2013 to December 2018, to $695,000, according to a new analysis from real estate portal Point2 Homes.

The site tracked median prices in North American cities with at least 500,000 residents.

Boston’s increase of $213,000 represented the sixth steepest net increase from 2013 to 2018, though that probably comes as no surprise to anyone following the market.

There is some good news in the analysis—relative good news, that is. Boston’s 44 percent increase was mild compared to percentage jumps in places such as San Francisco (69 percent), Vancouver (68 percent), and Seattle (66 percent).

The analysis also notes that such increases in median asking prices pretty much negate the buying power that should come from rising incomes during the same period. From the Point2 Homes:

As a result, housing affordability is becoming increasingly problematic in many cities across North America. While the traditional rule of thumb – that a homebuyer should afford a home if its value is 3 times or less the annual household income – still holds in some markets, others are far more expensive than that.