Back Bay

When people ask what Boston real estate costs, Back Bay is usually the number in their head. It is the most recognised and most consistently expensive residential neighborhood in the city, and it sets the reference against which everything else is measured.

The grid is uniform, the architecture is protected, and supply is effectively fixed. Those three facts explain most of the price behaviour.

On the residential blocks, southern exposure commands a clear premium, afternoon light through tall windows is the whole point of the housing stock. Floor level matters similarly: in buildings without a lift, upper floors discount; in buildings with one, they carry a premium.

In the newer full-service towers, stack position and sightline dominate. Two apparently identical units on the same floor can differ by six figures on the strength of what they look at.

Walkability to almost everything, the Esplanade and the river, the Commonwealth Avenue mall, and the strongest retail concentration in the city on Newbury Street.

What they give up is space per pound and, frequently, parking. Buyers moving from further out should be honest about how much storage a period conversion actually offers.