Housing in West Roxbury, MA 02132 (Westie)
Jim recommends living in West Roxbury! Its tree-lined streets and mostly single-family homes give it a suburban feel in an urban setting. Jim really encourages you to consider West Roxbury your home, too! Hang around a long-time resident and you might hear him or her shorten West Roxbury to Westie. Westie has several nice restaurants and grocery stores on its main street so you can eat locally. Shopping, on the other hand, is better done in Dedham or Chestnut Hill.
Modern Meets Traditional
This new condominium complex is one block from Roche Bros grocery store, the West Roxbury post office, a block and a half from the commuter rail, two blocks from the police station, and surrounded by restaurants. Such housing is the epitome of living in a location "convenient to everything"!
Public transportation is readily available for commuters via the Needham commuter line with its three stations in West Roxbury (Bellevue, Highland, and West Roxbury). Like most Boston neighborhoods, residents have many shops and restaurants nearby, but for the most part are car dependent - unless they are willing to use the local bus service that has several lines which run through and/or terminate in West Roxbury.
The two main arteries in West Roxbury are Centre St and Washington Street. West Roxbury Parkway runs north south and takes you over to Route 9 (aka Boylston Street) quickly.
Centre Street
Centre Street basically divides West Roxbury in half and is often backed up with traffic navigating the single lane each way. Other than big box stores, you can find most everything you need somewhere on this street from banks to grocery stores.
Housing Prices
Unlike some neighborhoods, single family sales exceed condominium and multi-family sales combined. Pricing for single-family homes has recently been running from $388,000 (total gut renovation required) to $2,070,000 for a beautifully renovated Victoria home; whereas condos and attached homes are offered for sale from $196,000 for a small, studio apartment to $1,238,000 for a 3,900 sq ft, new townhome. A couple of dozen multi-families have been going for $680,000 for a 2-family fixer-upper to $19,100,000 for a new, 46-unit building plus a separate 2-family. Rentals in the area run from $1,700 to $6,800. Of course, pricing for sales and rentals varies depending upon size, location, and amenities. Real estate sales and pricing are very fluid and can fluctuate in a matter of hours because homes can come on and off the market daily... even hourly.
Friendly and Safe
West Roxbury has two major parks: Stony Brook Reservation and Millennium Park. Great places for walking dogs, jogging/hiking, or outdoor activities.
How to tell the difference between a buyer's market and a seller's market
West Roxbury 2005 - Present
They say you cannot compare your home's value on the east coast to a home in the midwest or west coast. This is true because real estate markets are not necessarily "national". They are local. In fact, not only are real estate markets not just local, but they are also hyper local. One part of Boston like Downtown can be deep in a buyer's market while another neighborhood like Roslindale can be enjoying a seller's market. In 2024, Texas was, generally speaking, a seller's market as was Roslindale's. Today there are reports all around that it is a buyer's market in Texas. However, whatever is affecting the Texas market has not affected Roslindale. Roslindale has been a popular destination for buyers for many years now; perhaps because it took longer to appreciate than its neighbor to the east, Jamaica Plain. The switch from a buyer's market to a seller's market and vice versa does not take months or years to occur. It can happen overnight. Challenge is, we do not know on which night it is going to happen. BUT, we can see it happen in the data.
Observe the rising and falling of the graph lines below. The taller the line, the more pronounced a buyer's market is occurring caused by a great number of homes on the market which are over-priced and fail to sell. As the market softens, the length of the lines fall. The greatest change occurred between 2006 and 2013. After 2013, the overall Boston real estate market has moderated upward indicating a softening of the seller's market and tendency towards a buyer's market. However, West Roxbury's market has defied what's been going on in other areas and has remained a seller's market from 2013 to present.
West Roxbury 2018 - Present
Numbers don't lie. Therefore, the following chart must be true because it is full of numbers! The chart is a 7 year, 10 month historical story of sales data for West Roxbury. You can not only see the number of sales that have occurred, you can also see which months have typically slow sales or have sales flying off the shelf in "normal" cycles. Given that sales take 30+ days to close, the time to list a property for sale should be the month before the perceived best time to sell. Historically, Jan-Feb and Dec were the months when the sales are slowest and therefore the best time for buyers to negotiate a deal... provided there is a desirable home on the market to buy. Therefore, listing properties to sell as early as March or April or later in September-October are good times. This said, the number of homes that have sold in West Roxbury has fallen precipitously since 2023.
The time it might take to sell due to the number of competing homes on the market is determined by a formula called the "absorption rate" (AR). It is generally accepted that a seller's market occurs when a property can be listed and sold within 3 months, which is to say, an AR of less than 3. An AR between 3 and 6 indicates a neutral market. An AR greater than 6 indicates a buyer's market. West Roxbury appears to be on the edge of turning from a seller's market to a balanced market favoring neither buyer nor seller. Will it remain a seller's market or eventually flip into a buyer's market? Only time will tell. According to the numbers, odds are that the sooner sellers list the better off they will be.
Area Schools
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