What Happened in the Chelsea Multi Family Market in 2018?

CHELSEA - 2018

Chelsea Market Insight: At first glance, Chelsea seems to be an active market - 30 sales seems quite active.  However, when you take into account the entire three-family market, according to public records, has a total inventory of over 952 homes.  The good news for Chelsea investors is that with the exception of three sales (242 Clark, 16 Franklin and 167 Walnut), all other 27 sales of three-family homes came in over $600,000.  That is great news for Chelsea landlords – and the market has experienced robust and consistent appreciation.

What Is Noteworthy About the Chelsea Market:  There still is value in the Chelsea market.  While many first-time-owner-occupied-three-family-buyers in Boston tend to be priced out (little chances of success to owner-occupy a three-family in Cambridge, Somerville & Brookline), Chelsea represents an opportunity for the first-time-buyer.  Of the 30 sales in 2018, 11 traded at or below $200 per-square-foot.  If you are looking to owner-occupy, or perhaps even a first investment property for yourself, Chelsea represents a good opportunity.  Reach out to me at (617) 272-5440 to discuss my ‘Equity Builder’ program for new buyers.

While Chelsea Had a Relatively Active 2018…..There still is room to grow.  When compared with the entire submarket (and it’s not really fair to compare Chelsea to Cambridge and Brookline, is it?), Chelsea clocked in with the lowest price per-square-foot, at $224.  The next highest market was Malden ($239), followed by Everett ($240).  

Chelsea also exhibited an anomaly – with the property at 120 Bloomingdale setting two records in 2018 – including being the least expensive three-family sold in 2018, and also trading at the highest per-square-foot price, coming in at $418 per-square-foot.  This price-per-square-foot far surpassed the high water mark set in markets such as Medford ($335), Watertown ($255), Malden ($352) and Quincy ($313). The high dollar per-square-foot-of-three-families-sold in Chelsea, Quincy and Chelsea all were with properties that were under 2,000 square feet.