Massachusetts Property Assessment Dashboard (2023)

This project is all about the art of storytelling with data. The goal is to craft visualizations that communicate effectively with different audiences by applying key design principles. Using Tableau, I have built an easy-to-use dashboard filled with various types of visuals that address specific business questions. These visuals not only represent the data accurately but also weave a cohesive narrative, emphasizing the importance of data-driven communication in contemporary data science.

Introduction

In this project, I explore property assessments in Boston for the year 2023. The dataset is extensive, comprising 180,627 entries and 60 columns that capture a wide range of real estate information. This comprehensive Urban Insights Dashboard delves into Boston's real estate dynamics, land use patterns, and urban landscapes.

Through a series of carefully designed visuals, I aimed to answer critical business questions related to property distribution, building structures, and property values. The focus is on turning raw data into a compelling story that not only captures the attention of real estate professionals, investors, and urban planners but also provides strategic insights into Boston's urban real estate market.

Key business questions include:

1. How does the distribution of property characteristics vary across different neighborhoods in Boston?
2. What insights can we gain about average property values and areas in these neighborhoods?
3. How do specific building features, such as structure types and roof materials, correlate with property values?
4. What are the dominant property types in Boston and surrounding areas?

The insights gained from this analysis can be useful for real estate professionals, urban planners, local government officials, property developers, and investors.

Dashboard Overview

The Tableau dashboard provides the following visualizations:

1. Land Use Distribution: Proportions of residential, commercial, and tax-exempt properties across cities.

2. Building Structure Analysis: A breakdown of building types, structure materials, and associated property values.

3. Geospatial Map: Visualizes the geographic distribution of cities along with roof types, building numbers, and property values.

The dashboard is interactive, with tooltips offering additional insights when hovering over data points.

Key Insights

• Top Residential Cities:

  Boston leads in residential property count, followed by Dorchester and South Boston.

  

• Top Commercial Cities:

  Boston also dominates in commercial property counts, followed by Dorchester and Jamaica Plain.

  

• Top Tax-Exempt Cities:

  Boston, Dorchester, and Roxbury have the highest number of tax-exempt properties.

  

• Building Structure:

  - Boston has the highest total building value across all structure types, with significant values in Allston, Brighton, and Dorchester.
  

  

  - Dorchester and East Boston exhibit a diverse range of building structures, indicating varied property types.
  

  

• Roof Types:

   - Asphalt shingle roofs correlate with higher property values, particularly in South Boston and Chestnut Hill.
   
   - Rubber roofs are prevalent in West Roxbury, Hyde Park, and Roslindale.
  

  

Methodology

• Data Cleaning: Filtered the dataset to focus on key property characteristics and grouped land use types into residential, commercial, and tax-exempt.

• Visualization: Created bar plots, treemaps, and maps to display property distribution, building structures, and roof types.

• Interactivity: Tooltips were added for a detailed view of the data, including average property values and areas when hovering over the plots.

Conclusion

The analysis provides actionable insights for stakeholders:

• Residential Investments: Boston, Dorchester, and South Boston offer significant opportunities for residential investments.

• Commercial Opportunities: Boston dominates in commercial properties, with notable opportunities in Dorchester and South Boston.

• Tax-Exempt Property Development: Cities like Boston, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain could be targeted for tax-exempt property development.

• Structure Diversity: Dorchester and East Boston's diverse property structures present varied investment opportunities.

• Roof-Specific Investments: Asphalt shingle roofs are associated with higher property values, while rubber roofs are more common in West Roxbury.

How to Use the Dashboard

Explore the interactive Tableau dashboard by hovering over different elements to gain insights into property distribution, building structures, and valuation trends. The visualizations are designed to be user-friendly and provide valuable insights for anyone interested in the Massachusetts real estate market.

Here is the link for the Tableau Dashboard:

https://public.tableau.com/views/BostonPropertyDistribution/Dashboard1?:language=en-US&:sid=&:redirect=auth&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link