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Chinatown Investment Properties

Boston's Chinatown, the third largest in the U.S., is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city. Situated between the Financial District and the Theater District, Chinatown is home to a multitude of Asian restaurants, more than 300 businesses and Tufts Medical Center. Some of the original warehouses used during the garment manufacturing days in the 1800s still stand. Striking early 20th century Art Deco commercial buildings, brick row houses from the mid-1800s and buildings in the Chinese Revival style that blend Spanish and Chinese architectural features contribute to the pleasant mix of styles. Newer high-rise condominiums and apartments built in the last 15 years add a modern element to this neighborhood.

Rated as the most walkable neighborhood in Boston, Chinatown is well connected to the city by the metro, bus and train.

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Chinatown Residential Investments

Housing in the neighborhood is the third most expensive in the city for a one-bedroom apartment. Median rents in March 2015 were $3,140, the priciest in the city. With median rents for Boston the third highest in the U.S., Chinatown emerges as one of the priciest neighborhoods in the country. Median rents for the aggregate Chinatown-Leather District as of May 2015 are as follows:

With demand high for downtown living space, apartments in Chinatown command high prices. The new Radian high-rise apartments at the edge of Chinatown offers luxury rentals starting at $2,600 for a studio and $8,000 for a three-bedroom penthouse.

The median home value for Chinatown was $920,800, an increase of 12.9 percent over the past year and higher than Boston's $463,000. Zillow predicts an increase of 3.9 percent for home values over the next year in Chinatown.

Choosing the Right Chinatown Investment Property

In a competitive market like that of Chinatown, working with an experienced real estate company is imperative to successful investing. Boston City Properties uses current market data to analyze real estate trends in a neighborhood. We have the highest volume in apartment rentals in greater Boston. We work closely with our clients to make sure that investment strategies are tailored to properties under consideration. Pre-leasing in new residential developments in Chinatown such as One Greenway offers investors the opportunity to enter a tight market during the planning and construction phases. Call Boston City Properties at 617-247-1933 to speak to one of our pre-sales agents about new residential developments in Chinatown.

2017 Chinatown Real Estate Developments

Chinatown in Boston was originally built on a harsh environment with landfill and tidal flats. For decades, the neighborhood has become quite attractive to people from different parts of the world mainly because of the cheap rents in the area.

Chinatown Real Estate Numbers

The median home value in Chinatown is quite high: $1,101,000, which is actually a 9.2% increase from last year. This trend is projected to continue over the next few months until November 2018 as the home values may still rise to 3.7% more.

As for the median list price for every square foot, Chinatown has $1,195. It is so much higher than the average of Boston which is only $661. The rental price in Chinatown is $1,220, which is greater than the national average of $928. Although rentals are pricey, about 79% of the people in Chinatown go for rental properties as opposed to owning or buying them.

Real Estate Developments in Chinatown

Just last year, the projects that received approval from the BPDA were geared toward the residential properties. However, there were still more than 10 that included office spaces, which had a total of 1.9 million square feet. The projects will be mixed-use when they finish construction and there are six of them with residential space.

These office developments will be scattered across the city. Some of them are in South Boston Waterfront as well as in Roxbury and South Boston itself. There is also one in Brighton, Downtown, Dorchester, and Chinatown.

Housing Affordability

Chinatown has always been interesting. It is where the Chinatown Park is located where the path is lined with greens, bamboo, and water. There are sheep sculptures at the end of the park. That is not all; it is also where a few scenes from The Departed movie were filmed where Leonardo DiCaprio chased Matt Damon all the way down to Tyler Street.

However, the biggest issue about Chinatown is about the expensive houses for sale. It is perhaps one of the most significant reasons why people choose to rent rather than to buy a property. As a result, a group wanted to try to make things affordable in the neighborhood.

For these people, the brick row house located at 29 Oak Street was a good choice for them to build housing for those who were looking for less expensive homes in Chinatown. The group was prepared to provide funds amounting to $900,000. It was indeed a great chance for the people who wanted to live in the neighborhood without shelling the amount of money that was normally offered in the area.

There was just one problem though. The group was not able to purchase the property because a certain investor came and offered to buy the house for $1.3 million. There were four more attempts of the group to buy a brick row house in the neighborhood. Currently, these people do not own any property in Chinatown. However, they were the ones who added 3,000 luxury units from the year 2000.

At the moment, the group has set its eyes on a low income development now called the Mass Pike Towers, which has 200 units. They also want to try to purchase the low used for parking, which is city-owned.

Aside from the efforts of the group, there was also a development in the area, which was first called Parcel 24. It has the same goal of the group in which the project wanted to provide more affordable housing for the potential residents in the neighborhood. Back in 2014, the official groundbreaking happened for the Chinatown complex. It is located on the Rose Kennedy Greenway border.

Construction began even before the official groundbreaking event because the announcement was only made to accentuate the element of providing affordable housing for the people in Chinatown. The project was known as One Greenway and today, it has two buildings with 363 residential units. More than 140 of these units are rated as affordable. These affordable units are divided into two. The first set is in the North Building, which is one of the towers, and there are 95 rentals for low-income individuals. The other group is in the South Building with 51 condos marked with affordable prices.

One Greenway measures 1/3 of an acre, which is publicly accessible. There is also additional 5,000 square feet, which is used for community space. The whole area is convenient for the residents because it is transit-oriented as well, since it is just a few minutes from the South Station.

More Details on the Chinatown Real Estate Market

There are a number of apartments and other housing structures today that exist in Chinatown. Aside from One Greenway, one of the most popular is The Kensington at 665 Washington Street in Chinatown. Other developments in the area are apartments like Radian at 120 Kingston Street and the 660 Washington Apartments.

While Chinatown may not be as busy as the other neighborhoods in Boston, it still has some changes that will soon take place.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated developments in Chinatown is the comeback of its public library. It has been years since the last library was bulldozed. In fact, it was in 1956 when the last one existed and it was eliminated for the Central Artery in Boston. Nevertheless, the Boston Public Library has plans to open its permanent branch in the neighborhood.

Although the plans are still tentative and there are no final talks about it yet, there are two signs that emerged which are telling that the public library may very well be in Chinatown. First is that the Mayor of the city proclaimed in his State of the City address that the library services will be brought back to Chinatown.

The other is the basement space of China Trade Center located at 2 Boylston Street may host a temporary library before 2017 ends. It may still change, but these signs indicate that the plans may soon turn into a real project.

For now, Chinatown is experiencing redevelopment with the large luxury towers being built for residential use. The surrounding area is also constructed to have small apartment buildings with three to five stories. They will be intermixed with light industrial and retail spaces. The Dainty Dot Hosiery building was also bought by a property developer, which will be transformed into a condominium.

Chinatown or the Leather District, as some people call it, is still one of the places in Boston that have seen a steep price growth, which will most likely continue for the next few years.

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