Boston Real Estate

A short, editor-picked list of open houses worth your weekend — chosen by our editors, described in our own words, no listing feeds.

Open Houses: September 26–27 tap a home for photos & details

Jamaica Plain A two-bedroom above a café, steps from the Green Street Orange Line stop $790,000 · 2 bed · 1.5 bath · Sat 10:30 AM–12:00 PM ▸

Photo from the listing — full gallery at the link below.

156 Green St #205, Boston 02130$790,0002 bed1.5 bath1,018 sq ft

🏠 Open house: Sat Sep 26, 10:30 AM–12:00 PM

A 2011 building on Bartlett Square with a café and a yoga studio on the ground floor. Unit 205 has two bedrooms, a full bath and a half bath, in-unit laundry and central air, and the listing includes a deeded garage space and storage. The $454 monthly fee covers heat and hot water, per the listing. Green Street station on the Orange Line is a short walk, which matters this week: the Orange Line keeps running while the Green Line is shut downtown.

Listed by Michael Sokolowski · ENRG Global Realty, LLC

Full listing & photo gallery →

Back Bay A renovated garden-level floor-through with its own patio, two blocks from the Public Garden $1,599,000 · 2 bed · 1.5 bath · Sat 11:30 AM–12:30 PM ▸

Photo from the listing — full gallery at the link below.

76 Marlborough St #4, Boston 02116$1,599,0002 bed1.5 bath1,312 sq ft

🏠 Open house: Sat Sep 26, 11:30 AM–12:30 PM · also Sun Sep 27, 10:30 AM–12:00 PM

Two bedrooms plus an office on one floor of a building the listing dates to 1920, with a private entrance and a private patio garden off the living room. There are fireplaces in the living room and the main bedroom, in-unit laundry and central air, and the listing says pets are welcome. The association fee is $469 a month.

Listed by Steph Crawford Group · Real Broker MA, LLC

Full listing & photo gallery →

South End A brownstone duplex with a bedroom on each level and a private patio $819,900 · 2 bed · 2 bath · Sat 12:00 PM–1:30 PM ▸

Photo from the listing — full gallery at the link below.

504 Massachusetts Ave #1, Boston 02118$819,9002 bed2 bath990 sq ft

🏠 Open house: Sat Sep 26, 12:00 PM–1:30 PM · also Sun Sep 27, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM

A two-level condo in a building the listing dates to 1900, with exposed brick, high ceilings and a full bath for each bedroom. The larger bedroom has a wood-burning fireplace and opens onto the private patio. Laundry is in the unit, the fee is $257 a month, and the Massachusetts Avenue stop on the Orange Line is close by. New to the market this week.

Listed by Miles Wright · Century 21 Cityside

Full listing & photo gallery →

Roslindale A 1910 four-bedroom Colonial with a sun porch, a detached garage and a big backyard $825,000 · 4 bed · 2 bath · Sat 1:00 PM–2:30 PM ▸

Photo from the listing — full gallery at the link below.

51 Metropolitan Ave, Boston 02131$825,0004 bed2 bath1,750 sq ft

🏠 Open house: Sat Sep 26, 1:00 PM–2:30 PM

A single-family on a 0.14-acre lot with a formal dining room, a windowed sun porch and a rear addition with a second full bath and a flexible family room. There is a detached garage and a driveway. Worth knowing before you go: the listing’s own disclosures say some work in the back room and bathroom is likely unpermitted and that some photos are virtually staged.

Listed by The Muncey Group · Compass

Full listing & photo gallery →

Back Bay A one-bedroom in the former Hotel Victoria, at Dartmouth and Newbury $675,000 · 1 bed · 1 bath · Sat 12:30 PM–1:30 PM ▸

Photo from the listing — full gallery at the link below.

271 Dartmouth St #4E, Boston 02116$675,0001 bed1 bath624 sq ft

🏠 Open house: Sat Sep 26, 12:30 PM–1:30 PM

A one-bedroom of 624 square feet in an 1885 building, now a professionally managed condominium with an elevator and a shared roof deck. The listing describes high ceilings, hardwood floors and a galley kitchen. The fee is $666 a month. The Boston Public Library at Copley is a two-block walk.

Listed by Brian Doherty · Citylife Real Estate

Full listing & photo gallery →

Editors’ picks, chosen by us and described in our own words, with every fact read off each listing’s own page. Photos are the listings’ own, shown with attribution to the listing brokerage. Open-house times can change — and with a High Wind Warning and heavy rain forecast for Saturday, September 26, confirm with the listing agent before you travel. ExploreBoston is not a brokerage and earns nothing from these listings.

Brokers: put a listing or open house in front of 8,500+ Boston readers with a Daily Spotlight in the morning email. See how it works →

What would it cost per month?

Principal & interest on a typical Boston condo, at the latest weekly average rate — adjust the numbers to fit your search.

Rate prefills are the Freddie Mac weekly U.S. averages via FRED — 30-year 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week prior, and 15-year 6.42%, up from 6.26% (week of September 24, 2026). Estimates only, not lending advice; your rate will vary.

The Boston market right now

The freshest public, citable numbers on Boston housing — with honest vintage labels, because good data takes time to collect.

More from the same books: the average 15-year fixed rate is 6.42%, up from 6.26% the week prior (same weeks, Freddie Mac via FRED), and Boston’s FY2026 assessment roll runs to 184,552 records — including 74,254 condo units (median assessed value $639,350) and 30,441 single-family homes (median $703,400).

Median FY2026 assessed values from Boston’s own tax roll — all 184,552 records, split condo vs single-family. Assessments reflect the market as of Jan 1, 2025 and aren’t sale prices, but as a same-ruler comparison across neighborhoods, nothing beats them.

Medians computed from the City of Boston’s FY2026 property-assessment roll via Analyze Boston (assessed values for taxation, reflecting the market as of Jan 1, 2025 — typically below open-market sale prices). Neighborhoods follow the roll’s postal city, with the downtown core split by ZIP, so lines are approximate where ZIPs straddle neighborhoods; — marks segments with fewer than 50 records. Citywide medians: condo $639,350, single-family $703,400. Refreshed once a year when the new roll posts — next with FY2027, in early 2027.

Every Saturday the newsletter spotlights one of Boston’s 27 districts. The archive lives here.

Back Bay — week of Fri Sep 25, 2026

A tidal marsh until the nineteenth century, when landfill turned it into a planned grid: Beacon, Marlborough, Commonwealth and Newbury run parallel, the cross streets go in alphabetical order from Arlington to Hereford, and Copley Square sits in the middle. It is also a good district for a wet weekend, with its best-known library and its biggest mall both indoors.

Eat where to eat, neighborhood by neighborhood → · Shop the Prudential Center → · Do the Central Library at Copley → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Brighton — week of Fri Sep 18, 2026

A town of its own until Boston annexed it in 1874, and it still keeps a main street of its own: Washington Street, running through Brighton Center and out to Oak Square. The Green Line’s B branch runs along Commonwealth Avenue to the north, Boston College rises just past the western line, and the Chestnut Hill Reservoir sits at the district’s southern edge.

Eat where to eat, neighborhood by neighborhood → · Shop Brighton Center and Oak Square → · Do Chestnut Hill Reservoir → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Jamaica Plain — week of Fri Sep 4, 2026

The greenest district in the city and the one that wears it best — the Arboretum and the Pond sit inside the neighborhood rather than at its edge, and the Emerald Necklace runs through it on the way downtown. Centre Street carries the shopfronts, the Orange Line carries the commute, and the building stock is mostly wooden three-deckers and Victorians put up when this was still a summer suburb.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Shop Centre Street → · Do Arnold Arboretum → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Dorchester — week of Fri Aug 28, 2026

Boston’s largest neighborhood by a wide margin, and the one that behaves least like a single place — Savin Hill and Fields Corner and Ashmont and Codman Square each keep their own centre of gravity, strung along the Red Line and the old streetcar routes. It carries more homes on the city’s assessment roll than any other district, and it is where a Boston condo still trades close to the citywide middle.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Do Franklin Park → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

East Boston — week of Fri Aug 21, 2026

A set of connected peninsulas across the harbor from downtown, built by shipyards and rebuilt by everyone who has landed here since. Hillside triple-deckers, Latin American kitchens, an airport, and a waterfront that looks straight back at the skyline the rest of the city stands inside.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Do Piers Park → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Beacon Hill — week of Fri Aug 14, 2026

Gas lamps, brick sidewalks that will turn an ankle, and a hill steep enough that the streets had to bend around it. The State House sits on top with its gold dome, Charles Street runs along the flat bottom as the shopping street, and in between are the narrowest, most photographed lanes in the city.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Shop Charles Street antiques row → · Do Acorn Street → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Charlestown — week of Fri Aug 7, 2026

Boston’s oldest neighborhood sits across the river on its own hill, with a granite obelisk on top of it, the Navy Yard and the Constitution down at the water, and Main Street running between the two. One square mile, and you can walk all of it.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Do Bunker Hill Monument → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

South End — week of Fri Jul 31, 2026

The largest Victorian rowhouse district in the country, laid out around parks most cities would charge admission for — Union Park, Rutland Square, Blackstone.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Shop SoWa Open Market, Sundays → · Do Boston Center for the Arts → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

North End — week of Fri Jul 24, 2026

Boston’s oldest neighborhood is barely a third of a square mile, which is why it works: you can eat, walk the Freedom Trail and be on the Harborwalk inside an hour.

Eat Booked Solid: the most-reserved tables → · Live here neighborhood medians → · district guide → · map →

Entries are frozen as published — the newest district joins each Friday morning, and early partial entries reflect what that week’s edition carried.

Renting in Boston

Two of every three Boston homes are rentals, and much of the market turns over on a single day — September 1. What renting here actually costs, from the Census Bureau’s 2024 survey.

Know before you sign: at lease signing a Massachusetts landlord can collect only first month’s rent, last month’s rent, a security deposit of up to one month’s rent, and the cost of a new lock and key (MGL c.186 §15B). And since August 1, 2025, the broker’s fee is paid by whoever hired the broker — if the landlord brought them in, the fee isn’t yours (Mass.gov). Not legal advice — the state pages linked here are the authority.

Real Estate News

House-hunting by neighborhood?

Get to know the blocks before you tour them. Our neighborhood guides cover the feel, the history, and what your money buys — from brownstone Back Bay to triple-decker Dorchester.