{"id":40163,"date":"2021-07-21T15:18:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T12:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/?p=40163"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:21:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:21:31","slug":"boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown-Financial District Becomes Boston\u2019s Most Expensive Neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Takeaways:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Median home prices in Boston grew 2% Y-o-Y in the first half of 2021, reaching an all-time high of $665,000<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Downtown-Financial District reached a $1.25 million median home sale price, surpassing Bay Village to become Boston\u2019s most expensive neighborhood<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Three neighborhoods crossed the $1 million median price mark<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>South Boston had the most home transactions in the city with 324 in the first half of 2021<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a decade of recovery and growth following the Great Recession, the Boston real estate market faced another challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a drop in transactions at the beginning of the pandemic, both sales and prices recovered, with the latter reaching record highs in the first half of 2021. But, while prices increased to record highs, some neighborhoods fared better than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, 2,477 residential sales closed in Boston between January and June 2021<strong>.<\/strong>&nbsp;That\u2019s 57% more than the 1,578 sales in January through June 2020 \u2014 although it should be noted that the first half of 2020 included two strong initial months followed by the largest real estate dip triggered by the pandemic. As such, while the percentage is inflated by the slowdown of March and April 2020, an increase in sales volume still points toward a growing homebuyer appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"tableauPlaceholder\" id=\"viz1626686852736\" style=\"position: relative\"><noscript><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"NYC Nhoods \" src=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/static\/images\/Bo\/BostonNhoodsYear-2021H1V1\/NYCNhoods\/1_rss.png\" style=\"border: none\"\/><\/a><\/noscript><object class=\"tableauViz\" style=\"display:none;\"><param name=\"host_url\" value=\"https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F\"\/> <param name=\"embed_code_version\" value=\"3\"\/> <param name=\"site_root\" value=\"\"\/><param name=\"name\" value=\"BostonNhoodsYear-2021H1V1\/NYCNhoods\"\/><param name=\"tabs\" value=\"no\"\/><param name=\"toolbar\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"static_image\" value=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/static\/images\/Bo\/BostonNhoodsYear-2021H1V1\/NYCNhoods\/1.png\"\/> <param name=\"animate_transition\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"display_static_image\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"display_spinner\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"display_overlay\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"display_count\" value=\"yes\"\/><param name=\"language\" value=\"en-US\"\/><\/object><\/div>                <script type=\"text\/javascript\">                    var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1626686852736');                    var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0];                    if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='750px';vizElement.style.height='627px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='750px';vizElement.style.height='627px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='522px';}                     var scriptElement = document.createElement('script');                    scriptElement.src = 'https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/javascripts\/api\/viz_v1.js';                    vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement);                <\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simultaneously, in the first half of 2021, the median home sale price in Boston grew by 2%. In the first half of 2020, a median of $650,000 was recorded, thanks in part to the year\u2019s strong start which compensated for the ensuing lockdown months. One year later, that record has been topped as well, as the median reached $665,000 between January and June 2021. The trend is even more evident when looking at quarterly medians, as Boston\u2019s median home sale price in Q2 2021 stood at $682,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twelve of Boston\u2019s 21 neighborhoods saw price increases of up to 19%, while eight neighborhoods saw declines of up to 35% and in one neighborhood prices were flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Downtown-Financial_District_Reaches_125_Million_Median_Sale_Price\"><\/span>Downtown-Financial District Reaches $1.25 Million Median Sale Price<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Between January and June of 2021, median prices in Downtown-Financial District grew by 17%, reaching $1.25 million. This figure \u2014 coupled with drops in prices in other areas such as Back Bay and Bay Village \u2014 made Downtown-Financial District the most expensive neighborhood in Boston. In particular, Downtown\u2019s luxury condo transactions \u2014 including 11 units in the Ritz Carlton complex at a $2.1 million median price \u2014 played a big part in the neighborhood\u2019s growing price tags. Plus, its status as the heart of Boston\u2019s financial and tech industries likely contributed. The neighborhood also logged a spike in sales volume with 73 transactions \u2014 up 55% from the 47 recorded in the first half of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"64858d11-688d-49d5-961b-ee2d8b09f8c4\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Boston Median Sale Price H1 - 2021\"><\/div><script>!function(e,i,n,s){var t=\"InfogramEmbeds\",d=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement(\"script\");o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed-loader-min.js\",d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\");<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Conversely, Bay Village and Back Bay \u2014 historically among Boston\u2019s priciest areas \u2014 had medians decrease year-over-year. In the first half of 2020, Bay Village was Boston\u2019s priciest neighborhood with a median sale price of $1.763 million, followed by Back Bay with $1.476 million. However, in 2021, median prices dropped by 35% in Bay Village and the neighborhood lost its status as Boston\u2019s most expensive. The median sale price in Back Bay also decreased by 22%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the drop in median price is considerable, it can be at least partly attributed to a shift in the types and characteristics of properties being sold. More specifically, in Bay Village, the average square footage of homes sold dropped by 18% between the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 \u2014 from 1,421 square feet to 1,165. Moreover, two of Bay Village\u2019s 14 home sales in the first half of 2020 were single family homes and the rest were condominiums, which had a positive effect on the median sale price. By contrast, between January and June 2021, only one out of 34 transactions was a single family home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The average square footage of homes sold in Back Bay similarly decreased by 16% \u2014 from 1,464 to 1,237 square feet. As such, the downward trend in these neighborhoods after the record figures seen at the start of 2020 could be partially attributed to the supply of homes being sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Likewise, the South End also saw a drop in median sale prices, albeit by a smaller margin of 11%. As such, the median here finished at $950,000 \u2014 the fourth-highest on our list \u2014 with 268 transactions closed between January and June of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jamaica_Plain_Home_Prices_on_the_Rise_Hyde_Park_Sees_Largest_Percentage_Increase_in_Median_Sale_Price\"><\/span>Jamaica Plain Home Prices on the Rise; Hyde Park Sees Largest Percentage Increase in Median Sale Price<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Jamaica Plain \u2014 situated about five miles southwest of downtown \u2014 came in as the ninth-most expensive Boston neighborhood, and was actually the only top 10 entry detached from Boston\u2019s core around the Charles River. Here, the median grew by 13% Y-o-Y \u2014 from $620,000 in the first half of 2020 to $700,000 in the first half of 2021. The number of sales also increased by 25%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, the top 10 was closed out by South Boston, where the median home sale price reached $699,000 \u2014 down 7% Y-o-Y. However, South Boston also had the largest number of home sales in January through June of this year with 324 entries \u2014 an 82% increase from the same period last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the overall largest percentage increase in median home sale prices was not found among Boston\u2019s 10 priciest neighborhoods. Instead, Hyde Park took home the title with a 19% Y-o-Y spike in prices. As a result, the neighborhood reached a median price of $538,000 with 87 transactions between January and June of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"infogram-embed\" data-id=\"00d11376-83fe-4719-96ae-0a02de954e88\" data-type=\"interactive\" data-title=\"Boston Neighborhoods H1 -21 Snapshot\"><\/div><script>!function(e,i,n,s){var t=\"InfogramEmbeds\",d=e.getElementsByTagName(\"script\")[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement(\"script\");o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src=\"https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/js\/dist\/embed-loader-min.js\",d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,\"infogram-async\");<\/script>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Methodology\"><\/span>Methodology<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Median home sale prices were calculated based on transactions that occurred between January 1 and June 30, 2020, and between January 1 and June 30, 2021. Residential asset types included single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums. All medians were rounded to the nearest thousand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the purposes of our analysis, Allston and Brighton were considered a single neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With a median home sale price of $1.25 million, the Downtown-Financial District became Boston&#8217;s most expensive neighborhood in the first half of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":40170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4926,8245,1659],"tags":[11110,11171],"class_list":["post-40163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boston-real-estate","category-market-studies","category-priciest-neighborhoods","tag-boston-real-estate","tag-old-study"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v24.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Three Boston Neighborhoods Surpass $1 Million Median Sale Price<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Boston&#039;s Downtown-Financial District became the city&#039;s most expensive area for real estate in the first half of 2021.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downtown-Financial District Becomes Boston\u2019s Most Expensive Neighborhood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boston&#039;s Downtown-Financial District became the city&#039;s most expensive area for real estate in the first half of 2021.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PropertyShark Real Estate Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T12:18:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-22T08:21:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucian Alixandrescu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucian Alixandrescu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Boston Neighborhoods Surpass $1 Million Median Sale Price","description":"Boston's Downtown-Financial District became the city's most expensive area for real estate in the first half of 2021.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Downtown-Financial District Becomes Boston\u2019s Most Expensive Neighborhood","og_description":"Boston's Downtown-Financial District became the city's most expensive area for real estate in the first half of 2021.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/","og_site_name":"PropertyShark Real Estate Blog","article_published_time":"2021-07-21T12:18:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-22T08:21:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lucian Alixandrescu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucian Alixandrescu","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/","url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/","name":"Three Boston Neighborhoods Surpass $1 Million Median Sale Price","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg","datePublished":"2021-07-21T12:18:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-22T08:21:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/#\/schema\/person\/8dcdbe23ce3338721621dd397997da66"},"description":"Boston's Downtown-Financial District became the city's most expensive area for real estate in the first half of 2021.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/2021\/07\/21\/boston-expensive-neighborhoods-h1-2021\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Downtown-Financial District Becomes Boston\u2019s Most Expensive Neighborhood"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/","name":"PropertyShark Real Estate Blog","description":"Market Reports for Real Estate Writers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/#\/schema\/person\/8dcdbe23ce3338721621dd397997da66","name":"Lucian Alixandrescu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c96bd47696553c39e751aac1c63888f0d56c29e17a3b2e394409592d5630eb?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47c96bd47696553c39e751aac1c63888f0d56c29e17a3b2e394409592d5630eb?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Lucian Alixandrescu"},"description":"Lucian is a senior content writer for CommercialCafe, specializing in commercial real estate research and data-driven reporting since 2019. With deep expertise in industrial real estate, office markets, demographics, and economics, he produces comprehensive market studies and insights on national and regional CRE trends. He also reports on adjacent subjects such as population shifts and the job market. His reports have been cited by and featured in The New York Times, Forbes, NBC, Bisnow, The Business Journals, and Yahoo Finance. Lucian holds a background in language and literature studies and brings more than 5 years of previous freelance writing experience to his commercial real estate journalism.","jobTitle":"Senior Content Writer, CRE Industry Reports & Studies","url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/author\/lucian-alixandrescu\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2021\/07\/Featured-image-boston-residential-neighborhood.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40163"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40180,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40163\/revisions\/40180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertyshark.com\/Real-Estate-Reports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}