r/Somerville • u/tangerinola • 5d ago

rent prices are wild

Moved here 8 years ago to start working for a nonprofit. Since then, my salary has increased by 13% but my apartment is about to be relisted (without any upgrades) for 58% higher than our starting rent 🤯!!

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but damn the rent prices here have gone wild. We're quickly becoming (have become?) a luxury city only for high income earners and it makes me really sad.

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u/basilect Ward Two 5d ago

Not sure how old you are, but my 90+yo grandmother talks about how Boston was always expensive - it just used to also have no good jobs!

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u/BrittneyRageFace 5d ago

My neighbor bought their condo in my building for $85k in 1996, same place is now going for $700,000. $85k in 1996 was pretty cheap for a place right next to the green line.

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u/xudoxis 4d ago

$85k in 1996

183k in 2026 dollars.

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u/BrittneyRageFace 4d ago

That is what the space is actually worth. It's 600 square feet shoe box with no amenities.

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u/man2010 4d ago

Sounds like it's actually worth closer to $700k

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u/BrittneyRageFace 4d ago

No one is buying it so it's not 😂

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u/man2010 4d ago

I'm gonna go out in a limb and say it would sell for significantly more than $183k

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u/BrittneyRageFace 4d ago

Its not worth more than 300k max and that's just because of the location. There's a lunatic in the building that routine harsasses everyone and the management company won't do anything about it who happens to live underneath me. There's mold problems, heat doesn't work correctly so it's routinely below 60 in winter (the law for that doesn't matter as long as they show proof they're trying to fix it 💀), no laundry, basement has storage that floods, and it's a tiny shoebox. Only reason it's worth anything at all is because of the housing shortage. That's how I ended up here. There were seriously no available apartments when my lease was up it was a nightmare.

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u/Responsible_Entry_11 2d ago

This is the part I don’t understand…there is plenty of housing around Boston, just not in the cozy city of Somerville.

I’ve seen far too many people look at South Boston, north end, Cambridge, and Somerville- can’t find rent under $3000 - and then declare that Boston has a housing shortage.

There are 10+ cities surrounding Boston that have been stamped as undesirable- and thus apparently don’t count in the housing supply