Come Live in Dorchester (Dot)

Local Schools & Restaurants — Featured Listings

Dorchester, during the early 20th century, became home to the first racially integrated neighborhood on Jones Hill and the precursor of the NAACP. To accommodate the influx of immigrants, the Dorchester’s trademark, triple-decker apartment buildings of light-framed, wood construction, popped up everywhere. Today, most have been converted to condos. When you are looking at such listings, unit 1 is on the ground floor and unit 3 is the “penthouse” – on the third floor.

Although Dorchester has been completely annexed over time by Quincy, Milton, and Boston, it is still known for the most part as Boston’s largest and most populous neighborhood; in fact, Dorchester, itself, consists of neighborhoods, too. Map courtesy Wikipedia.

North Dorchester is predominantly urban with apartments and industrial parks, whereas South Dorchester is primarily residential. Although commercialization is expanding in the south, you can still find residential housing in the areas of Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill, Ashmont, Meeting House Hill, Neponset, Popes Hill and Port Norfolk. Franklin Park, a terrific green space featuring 527 acres of walking paths, a zoo, and an 18-hole municipal golf course is located on the southwestern side of Dorchester.

Dorchester’s historical diversity is displayed in decadent architecture of gracious, grand Victorian homes built by wealthy Bostonians from days long gone in areas like Ashmont and Savin Hill. Since then, multi-family dwellings filled with groups of immigrants who came to join them. Together they provide a historical feast for the eyes. Today, we see this diverse, constantly evolving ethnic mixture as Dorchester experiences a grand revitalization. To get an idea of its social fabric, you can check out its demographics online (Wikipedia).

If you have a specific property in mind that you are considering buying, The City of Boston maintains a database for the City Assessor which you can access to see what value the City gives the property and what the annual taxes are. Boston also offers a residential tax break for primary residences. Apply if your purchase qualifies. Since we do not live in a perfect world, we need to be aware of criminal activity that might be around us when contemplating buying in or near a big city. Dorchester is served by District C-11 of the Boston Police Department. Learn more about community services in your neighborhood or area in which you might be interested in living simply by entering your street address here.

Dorchester boasts great public transit – street buses and the subway’s Red line; or you can drive the major thoroughfares: I-93, Hwy 28, Hwy 203, and the Dorchester Turnpike (said with tongue in cheek as it is by no means a highway).

To keep up with daily goings on you can check in online with the Dorchester Reporter, or, of course, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald.

Area Schools

Dorchester lies in the Boston Public School district. Its transportation policies are outlined here. Great Schools provides ratings for most schools in the United States. Below, you can see what schools are near the address you are thinking of buying and then compare it to other neighboring schools.

If you have a specific property in mind that you think you might like to buy, The City of Boston also maintains a database for the City Assessor which you can access to see what value the City gives the property and what the annual taxes are. Boston does offer a residential tax break for primary residences for which you might need to apply after your purchase.

Dot’s Real Estate Market

Real estate markets are very fluid and can fluctuate in a matter of hours because homes can come on and off the market daily… even hourly. The following chart is a visual, historical representation of the cyclical nature of real estate and compares the ups and downs of Dorchester to those of the entire city of Boston since 2005.

The taller the column the better it is for buyers. The shorter the column the better it is for sellers. Hence 2006 was the best time for a buyer to buy in Dorchester, while 2013-2018 were great years for sellers. However, buyers will be happy to know that the above graphic indicates a weakening seller’s market.

Single family homes in Dorchester have been running from $300,000 to $1.8M while condominiums have been running from $115,000 to $1.7M and multi-family homes from $350,000 to $5.5M. Pricing varies depending upon size, location, and amenities.

This next chart shows the number of sales occurring in Dorchester month-to-month, year-to-year since 2018 and provides you a historical overview of the best times to sell – months with the greatest number of sales (spring) – and the best times to buy – months with the fewest number of sales (not spring). CAVEAT: there are usually more homes to choose from in the first half of the year.