Greater Boston cities and towns where home prices have changed the most in the last year
Greater Boston housing prices as a whole rose about 6 percent in 2015. Vacancy rates were incredibly low, demand was high, and supply was low — a perfect storm for increased home prices.
That trend has driven the discussion around real estate in the area well into 2016. But behind the scenes, there is some reason to hope prices will begin to slow their growth. And there are even a few towns where the cost to buy has actually decreased since a year ago.
Using data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Boston.com looked at single-family home prices in cities and towns all over Greater Boston, comparing median prices from the first six months of 2015 to median prices from the first six months of 2016.
Hingham homes decreased in price the most from the first half of 2015 to the first half of 2016, with a 9.1 percent decline. From January to June 2015, the median single-family home price was $770,000, while from January to June 2016, that median dropped to $700,000.
A few other towns saw slight declines in median prices as well. Watertown’s single-family home prices declined 4.3 percent, falling from a median of $611,250 in the first half of 2015 to a median of $585,000 in the first half of 2016.
Newton saw a 4.2 percent decrease. The median single-family home price in Newton was $1,200,000 from January to June 2015 and dropped to $1,150,000 in the first half of 2016.
Other Boston area towns that saw a small decrease in the median single-family home price were: Arlington, Bedford, Lincoln, and Wellesley.
Most towns in the Greater Boston area saw increases in median home prices over this period, however.
Chelsea saw the biggest increase of them all, with a 20 percent change from the first half of 2015 to the first half of 2016. The median price was $264,250 from January to June 2015 and increased to $317,000 during the same period in 2016.
Along with its increase in single-family home prices, Chelsea has seen an uptick in the number of luxury apartment buildings, such as Chelsea Place, the 305 Microlofts at Commoncove, and the second phase of One North of Boston at 150 Heard Street.
Close behind Chelsea was Cambridge, which saw a 18.5 percent increase from its already high median single-family home price. In the first half of 2015, Cambridge’s median single-family home price was $1,413,500. It increased to $1,675,000 in 2016.
Other towns or cities with increases greater than 10 percent were: Beverly, Boston, Brookline, Dover, Everett, Hull, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, and Waltham.
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