Can You Still Find a Bargain in Boston?

Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain / Photo by Soe Lin on Flickr/Creative Commons

We’ve commiserated with you before about how expensive Boston is getting. Not like you needed a reminder, but housing costs are still sky high.

Yet, are there still bargains to be found in the city? The answer to that question is complicated, but in short, it depends on where you look. Real estate data firm NeighborhoodX dove into a consolidated housing cost analysis of four neighborhoods in Boston that have been traditionally viewed as affordable: Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Dorchester, and Hyde Park.

Each neighborhood was analyzed based on a subset of properties on the market. These properties excluded foreclosures and short sales, income-restricted or affordable housing, properties positioned as development sites, and listings with incomplete information.

Average sale prices put JP on top at $441 per square foot, $137 more expensive than the second most expensive average. Next is Roslindale at $304 per square foot, Dorchester at $285 per square foot, and Hyde Park at $264 per square foot.

What do these numbers mean?

“What this price range analysis reveals that other approaches do not is that there are still bargains to be found in Dorchester, Hyde Park, and Roslindale,” explains Constantine Valhouli, cofounder of NeighborhoodX.

Properties dip as low as $135 per square foot in Dorchester, $176 per square foot in Hyde Park, and $213 per square foot in Roslindale. Jamaica Plain’s least expensive listing, on the other hand, was $366 square feet—which is on par with the most expensive listings in Roslindale. Similarly, the most expensive properties in Dorchester were similar to the most expensive ones in Jamaica Plain.

Wondering how the neighborhoods line up? See the chart below.

See an interactive version here.