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Tiny home in Boston’s South End asks just under $430,000

The 295-square-foot spread on Columbus Avenue includes access to a roof deck with sweeping city views

By Tom Acitelli
The corner kitchen area of a small studio.
The functionality extends to the kitchen—it has to.
Photos via Compass

It’s not easy to find a starter home in the South End, one of Boston’s more expensive and more coveted neighborhoods. But it is possible—you just have to trade space for location.

Take Unit 22 at 529 Columbus Avenue. The studio runs to just 295 square feet, but is on one of the South End’s most popular boulevards. It also includes a Murphy bed, which opens up that much more space. And the condo comes with access to the building’s roof deck, which includes sweeping city views.

Still, this being the South End, Unit 22 is not tiny in price. It’s asking $429,900—or $1,457 a square foot—through Compass. The average South End condo price in the fourth quarter of 2019 was $1,141,345 and the average per square foot was $1,046, according to a report from appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman.

The corner kitchen up close, including the boxy fridge.
Think of it this way: Curbed Boston named the South End one of the top Boston-area neighborhoods of the 2010s.
A den area in a small studio, with not much furniture.
The living room without the Murphy bed down.
A Murphy bed down from its walled installation and occupying much of the studio’s living room.
And now with the bed down.
The entry area of a small studio, with a large cabinet and one chair.
This studio is a microcosm of what affordability means in Boston’s market-rate housing now.
A roof deck with a table and chairs and sweeping city views.
The shared roof deck might make it all worth it.

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