Brighton as Best Value Neighborhood
Slump or no slump, seems like Boston is destined to remain pretty darn expensive when it comes to housing. The average cost of a Back Bay condo in 2009 was $1,027,000. In the South End, it took close to a million dollars ($793,000) to snap up your average condo. Other city neighborhoods, like Beacon Hill and the Fenway weren’t a whole lot better. Charlestown and South Boston have gotten pretty pricey too. So where do you go to find a relatively safe city neighborhood with access to the T and all the other urban amenities?
The answer may surprise you: Try Brighton.
Yep, Brighton.
Long regarded as simply a transient student ghetto, Brighton (and parts of Allston) has been attracting more and more professionals and families planning to stick around for a while. And what’s the big attraction? Well, how about a decent condo for less than $200,000? Or how about a 2 or three bedroom for just over $300,000? Only Dorchester offers a better value…but with concerns about crime and T accessibility. (We’ll talk more about the hot areas of Dorchester in future posts.) Neighborhoods that are not directly on the T line offer the cheapest prices, of course. In Oak Square, a family neighborhood of two and three families, asking prices for one bedrooms come as low as $160K. Expansive condos of two and three bedrooms can be found in the $300s. (The condo pictured above is a 4-bedroom condo of 1400 square feet for $349K and is directly on the B line). Prices tend to go up the closer a property is to the B or C lines and the Brookline border. Two of the best neighborhoods are the Aberdeen section and the neighborhood immediately north of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital at Brighton Center.
427-435 Faneuil Street
BEDS:1/BATHS:1
SQ.FT: 358
$159,000
1874 Commonwealth Avenue
BEDS:1/BATHS:1
SQ.FT:580
$170,900
1572 Commonwealth Avenue
BEDS:2/BATHS:1
SQ.FT: 700
$273,900
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