The consensus is clear among local real estate agents: Jamaica Plain is one of the most desirable places to live in Boston among the 23 officially recognized neighborhoods in the city.
The Gazette spoke with some of JP’s top real estate agents about the current real estate market. Following are their observations:
Constance Cervone
Cervone Deegan, Coldwell Banker Realty
Constance Cervone was very enthusiastic and upbeat while reflecting on the real estate market in Jamaica Plain in 2026 to-date.
“The market is good. We had quite an excellent spring, which is the leaping off point for the rest of the year,” related Cervone. “Personally, our team had our best spring in ten years. We had a lot of very high-priced houses that sold very quickly, over the asking price, and in the $2 million range, so it was a stellar spring.”
Cervone said the difference this year is “there’s more inventory.”
“But as of right now, we’re almost on a par with last year,” she reports. “The median sales price is up less than one percent. The price per square foot is down a tiny bit because of this new inventory. It’s down about five percent since last year. And most, on average, Jamaica Plain homes are selling after 21 days on the market. One-hundred-and-forty-four homes sold in August this year, 142 last year.”
The good news is that Jamaica Plain is “still in high demand, single-family homes in particular, because of the lifestyle here.
JP has greenspace and a lot of the private schools are here,” said Cervone. “People want to live in Jamaica Plain in a huge way. And it’s such a great place to live, and it gets better every day. The arts, the restaurants, the greenspace, it’s really a wonderful place to be. I’ve been here 40 years. That’s a long time.”
BJ Ray
The Boston Home Team at Gibson Southeby’s
BJ Ray released a comprehensive report Thursday on the 2026 real estate market in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and West Roxbury. The report contains a statistical analysis which many will consider very helpful.
Asked about the state of the real estate market in Jamaica Plain, Ray answered, “There’s a lot of uncertainty. But I think the single-family market is still strong. The condo market and the multi-family market are starting to suffer. Properties are sitting for longer, and that’s across the board in JP, Roslindale, and West Roxbury.”
Ray said home sales this summer were “okay.”
“Our team was lucky. We got things sold, but things are sitting and some deals are falling apart,” said Ray candidly. “I noticed a lot of properties are selling at list price or under list that ever before, or at least in the past ten years anyway.”
Ray has been in the real estate field for 21 years. He feels Jamaica Plain’s status as an excellent neighborhood in which to live is well deserved.
“I will always contend that JP is a very desirable place to live, because it just is for all the right reasons – public transportation, greenspace, commercial space, great shops and restaurants, everything [author and urban activist] Jane Jacobs would have deemed essential for a healthy, thriving community,” said Ray.
Ray said he enjoys his profession and “
the excitement” of a couple or an individual purchasing a new home.
“I love that aspect of the job,” said Ray. “I loved bringing new folks in the neighborhood. I love how people get excited about moving into a new home. I think if I didn’t, I’d probably find another line of work.”
Faye Simon
Faye Simon Real Estate
Faye Simon has decades of experience in her profession, having begun her career in the 1980s.
Simon, whose expertise is in apartment rentals in homes but who also does some home sales, said “every year the demand peaks between May and September but whatever’s left over goes for October and November.”
“It’s just a seasonal rhythm,” added Simon. “Things pick in February through May in search of apartments, and those searches are generally for the summer when people want to move in.”
“I would say the season [2026 to-date] wasn’t spectacular, wasn’t horrible – it was middle range.
Simon said timing in the apartment rental market is key and having the right negotiating perspective is essential.
“If your property is vacant in September, and you don’t try to negotiate with someone who’s event slightly interested, you could end up vacant until April of the following year. You have to be flexible, and people don’t understand it.
“I have one person who’s thinks he going to get $4,000 for a three-bedroom [apartment] in a two-family home, and I’m constantly trying to explain to him how that is so outside of reality,” related Simon.
Simon said the average rent for apartments varies intensely, “by landlords, by demand from the tenants.
“I mean, I did rent a one-bedroom apartment that has heat and hot water included, for $2,150 – however, in May or June, when the owner was buying the condo, the estimate was $2,500, but because we hit nearly October and the demand had diminished, we’re looking at just getting it ready, so the price was $2,150,” said Simon.
Simon said an uncertain national economy has been a topic of concern about prospective renters and homebuyers.
“People are trying to be careful because your gas prices are high, your utilities are high, your insurance is high – everything is high,” said Simon.
Simon said a lot of renters are college students who attend such schools as Northeastern, Harvard, Wentworth, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, Suffolk, and Tufts.
“Pretty much we get students from all the schools on the Green and Orange Lines,” she said.
As for the overall real estate climate, Simon concluded, “There are a lot of apartments and homes available right now. But people have to be flexible and negotiable. Those are the key words.”
John Maxfield
Maxfield and Company Real Estate
John Maxfield started in the real estate industry on January 1, 1994.
“It will be 33 years in a couple of months,” he said proudly.
Maxfield described the spring real estate season in Jamaica Plain as “a little bit exciting,” and he agrees with the widely held assumption that Jamaica Plain is a much sought-after place in which to live.
“Jamaica is one of the popular neighborhoods in Boston,” said Maxfield. “It’s a combination of things. It’s a terminus on the Orange Line, which is one of the easiest trains to ride. It’s fast and furious and gets you right into town. JP is also surrounded by parkland. We have the pond [Jamaica Pond] on the west, and the Arnold Aboretum on the south, and the park on the east, which is soon to be [the newly re-constructured] White Stadium. And there’s not a single parking meter, so parking is nice and easy. And the variety of architecture here is nice. He’s got several high-end neighborhoods, and more that are multi-family.”
Maxwell said Boston’s real estate market differs from other big cities.
“I always say that Boston withstands all the vicissitudes of a typical market because of its name,” said Maxfield. “It’s such a small, big city. It supports the market. We have a big student population, big financial, medical, and technological populations, and there’s a lot of new construction going on in Boston.”
Maxfield addressed the topic of uncertainty of today’s economy.
“There’s a lot of confusion from the obvious places – politics, the economy – everything is in upside down,” said Maxfield. “And on top of everything, interest rates are now on the increase for obvious reasons: war, energy. So everybody is a little scared. As you know, markets do not like the unknown. The markets shy away from the unknown. Give me something that’s positive or negative and I can work with it. Not to know which way it’s going, it’s very, very difficult.”
Maxfield said the future of the real estate market will be affected one way or another by national events such as the mid-term elections on November 3, 2026.
Paula Callaghan
The Love Live Boston Team, KPSales.com, Insight Realty Group
Paula Callaghan said she and her business partner, Karen McCormack, had “a very busy summer” in real estate.
“We didn’t take a vacation until late August, because we were extremely busy,” related Callaghan, who retains a wonderful Irish accent, being originally from Galway and despite living in the Boston area for 35 years. “Our fall market typically tends to be a little slower than the spring market. Karen and I have been doing this for 25 years, since 2002. The fall market is slower because people start to get ready for Halloween and then it’s Thanksgiving and Christmas – and usually the kids are back in school. But there’s a lot of inventory – now it’s the matter of are there enough buyers out there to make us a sale? So, we are seeing homes staying on the market a little bit longer, and we’re not seeing the multiple offers, as we were in the springtime.”
“There’s a lot of confusion from the obvious places – politics, the economy – everything is in upside down,” said Callaghan. “And on top of everything, interest rates are now on the increase for obvious reasons: war, energy. So everybody is a little scared. As you know, markets do not like the unknown. The markets shy away from the unknown. Give me something that’s positive or negative and I can work with it. Not to know which way it’s going, it’s very, very difficult.”
Callaghan said that single-family homes in Jamaica Plain “move pretty quickly.”
“That’s a given. The homes sell pretty fast, and we see multiple offers depending on the location, though. If it’s center JP, it won’t sit on the market because a lot of people want to live in a single-family home, four bedrooms, 2 ½ baths [estimated between $1.6 million and $2 million] if they can afford it,” she said.
“You can walk to the Pond, you’ve got the Aboretum, you’re walking up Center Street, you’ve got the Orange Line that runs four stops in JP,” added Callaghan in affirming why the properties situated in that area are in such high demand.
While fall just started this week and winter begins officially on Dec. 21, “once February comes, weather permitting and there’s no snow, it’s an early spring marker – people are dying to get back out searching for homes again,” according to Callaghan. “It’s actually a good time to buy right now, because you’re not going to get bidding wars. It’s actually a good buyers’ market more than a sellers’ market in the fall.”
Rachael Kulik
Insight Realty
Group
Rachael Kulik described the real estate market in Jamaica Plain for housing sales this summer as “interesting.”
“Condos and single-families didn’t move as quickly. Owner occupant multi families did better. Some took longer to sell and others didn’t sell at all – a condo on Day Street i had initially listed for sale I ended up renting instead” said Kulik. “The rise in mortgage rates also affected the market, making units more difficult to move than normal.”
Kulik, who also handles a lot of rentals, spoke about the change in the broker fee law (which went into effect Aug. 1, 2025).
“This is our first full rental cycle with the new law in effect. Clients who hire an agent can only pay the agent they are working with, but cannot pay the other side, so tenant agent compensation and landlord agent compensation is completely separated now,” explained Kulik. “Landlord can’t pay Tenant’s Agent and Tenant can’t pay Landlords Agent. Co-broking – fee splitting -is not allowed anymore in Massachusetts. So two agents can still work together, but the only person who can pay them is the person who hired them to assist in the first place. Some people adjusted to the new law, but it’s still fairly new so there is still some confusion about it. As an expert that’s my general understanding of it.”
Kulik began working in the real estate industry in 2013, acquiring her Salesperson’s license then obtaining her Broker’s License three years later. She also previously managed JP Rentals and Sales until 2020.
“I furthered my education to become a Real Estate Broker because I love my job,” said Kulik. “I took extra courses and the exam. Technically it means I can run my own brokerage if I want to, but I choose not to because I love the office I work at now. My team at INSIGHT is amazing and supportive and i’ve grown a lot here.”