You are a recent MSRED graduate (Master in Real Estate Development). You have just landed a job at a real estate firm in downtown Boston and are searching for your first home! As a young agent showcasing Boston's top properties, you commute daily to upscale neighborhoods while navigating the city's competitive, speculation-driven market.
Let's go an a journey in your shoes as a realtor, and explore the impact of Boston's market speculation on both buyers and real estate firms.
As a realtor dreaming of homeownership yourself, the stark reality of Boston's market hits close to home—literally. Where can you actually afford to live while staying within reach of your real estate company?
Tip: Click to pick your working location, choose your commuting preference, and see what are available!
Ms He
🔥
Mr Wang
❤️
Mr Dai
👏
Mr El-Sisi
👍
Behind your daily duty lies a hidden truth: corporate giants are increasingly dominating Boston's housing landscape, turning neighborhoods into investment portfolios rather than communities.
Canton
Average Price
$XXX,XXX
Knock knock, nobody's home. These empty properties represent lost opportunities for you, and for all families seeking homes, while investors wait for values to climb.
What a frustrating day!
I can't afford anything I sell...
...How can I flip this situation around?
Let's play a game!
Frustrated, you embarked on a villain arc, and decide to find the best property not just to live in, but also to flip!
Tips: Each month, you can buy or sell a house. Monthly payment for loan is required, and your house will be forcefully sold if you are in debt. Your possessed houses may earn you rents.
New Listing This Month!
Down Payment: $10000
Monthly Payment: $10000
$10000
$10000
$10000
HA HA HA!
no free lunch!
While the game was tuned with exaggerated inflation rate, there is a similar game being played all around you — properties changing hands rapidly with dramatic price jumps, revealing how speculation transforms homes into commodities and drives the market further out of reach.
Housing speculation in Boston, driven by investors who purchase and flip properties without occupying them, creates a paradoxical market where first-time homebuyers face artificial scarcity and inflated prices.
(THE END)
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our instructors—Dr. Arvind, Dr. Catherine, and Dr. Crystal—whose emphasis on equity and storytelling in data visualization helped us refine our framing and ensure our work remained grounded in the lived realities of those most impacted by housing instability. Their interdisciplinary perspectives on data, design, and justice shaped the way we approached every stage of this project.
We also acknowledge the teaching assistants and reviewers— Dana, Sophia, Simone, Riccardo, Ane, and Zoe —whose detailed critiques and suggestions in weekly sessions sharpened both our analytical and design decisions. Their feedback was instrumental in surfacing blind spots and challenging us to strengthen our visual metaphors and simplify complex insights.
We are grateful to our peers for fostering a safe and collaborative environment where ideas, inspiration, and support were freely shared. This project was truly a team effort, and we are proud of what we created together.
We would also like to thank the City of Boston—including its Assessing Department and the Boston Planning & Development Agency—the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and the U.S. Census Bureau for providing us with their datasets that made our analysis possible through their commitment to transparent, accessible data:
U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). 2020 Census for Boston [Data set]. City of Boston.
ChatGPT was used for generating the images of desk scene and client faces.
Finally, we acknowledge the publicity of Matterport's 3D Tours, which enabled our interactive public tours. We also thank CBS News for their reporting, which provided valuable contextual information for this project."
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