Facts About Housing in Wellesley
Market Prices
- The median value of a home in Wellesley is $1.52 million, or about 19.1 years worth of income for the typical Massachusetts household.
- 97% of homes in Wellesley are valued at more than $449,000, the median Massachusetts home price.
- In 2019, the median price of a single-family home in Wellesley topped $1.7 million, a 19% increase from the previous year.
- Since 2000, housing prices in Wellesley have appreciated by 94.6%, compared to the Consumer Price Index, a common measure of inflation, which has grown by 53.8%.
- As of 2014, nearly one-quarter of Wellesley homeowners and one-third of renters pay more than 30% of their income for housing costs.
- An October 2020 Brookings Institute analysis estimated that the development costs associated with building a new single-family home in Wellesley Hills average $1.9 million, compared to the per-unit cost of building a new condominium of $500,000.
Subsidized Housing
- Sudbury, one of 5 towns in Massachusetts with a higher per-capita income than Wellesley, had 11.3% of its housing stock in the state’s Subsidized Housing Inventory in 2017. That same year, Wellesley had 6.3% of its housing stock in the SHI.
- Types of subsidized housing in Wellesley:
Housing Diversity
- Over 81% of housing units and 94% of owner-occupied units in Wellesley are single-family dwellings.
- 92% of the land zoned for residences in Wellesley is occupied by single-family homes.
Housing Production
- In June 2019, The Boston Foundation estimated that, from 2013-2017, Wellesley issued building permits for just 64.1% of the housing units needed to satisfy its proportional share of regional housing demand.
- Between 2010 and 2017, Wellesley’s housing stock declined by 110 units, largely because of small multi-unit buildings being converted to or replaced with single-family homes.
