Monopoly Brown Properties (Purple): Names, Prices, and Strategy

Searching for details about the Monopoly brown properties, AKA the Monopoly purple properties in older editions?

The brown properties are often overlooked, and there are pretty good reasons for that – they ain’t that good.

With that being said, the brown properties can still play a role in helping you win Monopoly.

In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the brown properties in Monopoly, including names, prices, and optimal strategies.

Note – prior to 2008, the brown properties were purple in the USA game. That is, the Monopoly purple properties are the same as the brown properties and newer versions of the game only use the brown color.

What Are the Brown Properties in Monopoly?

There are two Monopoly brown property cards in the classic game.

The names of the brown properties will depend on which version of the game you’re playing.

In the classic USA Monopoly game, the street names are as follows:

• Mediterranean Avenue – $60
• Baltic Avenue – $60

Here are the names of the brown properties in other editions:

Monopoly Brown Properties (UK)

There are also two brown properties in Monopoly UK.

The Monopoly UK brown property names are as follows:

• Old Kent Road – £60
• Whitechapel Road – £60

Monopoly Mega Edition Brown Properties

While there are only two brown properties in the classic Monopoly game, the Monopoly Mega Edition has three brown streets, adding a new property named Arctic Avenue.

Therefore, In this edition of the game, the names are as follows:

• Mediterranean Avenue
• Baltic Avenue
• Arctic Avenue

Monopoly Junior Brown Properties

In keeping with other Monopoly Junior property names, the brown properties are completely different. In Monopoly Junior, they are named as follows:

• Taco Truck or Burger Joint
• Pizza House

Brown Monopoly Property Prices

Unlike a lot of other Monopoly property sets, the brown properties both have the exact same price. They’re also some of the cheapest properties on the board, both to purchase and to build improvements on.

Cost to Buy Brown Properties

Each brown property costs $60 at full price, though you might be able to get them cheaper in an auction (as long as you’re following the correct Monopoly auction rules).

However, if you’re playing Monopoly Mega Edition, the price for Arctic Avenue is $80, which makes it slightly more expensive than Baltic Avenue and Mediterranean Avenue.

Cost to Build on Brown Properties

The cost to build on the brown Monopoly squares is the same for both properties.

• Houses – $50 each
• Hotels – $50 each

Rent From Brown Properties

Despite having the same purchase price, Baltic Avenue earns roughly double the rent that you get from Mediterranean Avenue.

Here’s what you earn based on different situations.

Mortgage Value of Brown Properties

As with other Monopoly properties, the mortgage values of the brown properties are half of their list price.

That means that, in the classic game, each brown square has a mortgage value of $30.

Best Strategy for the Brown Spaces in Monopoly

Overall, there’s a reason that the brown streets in Monopoly are priced so cheaply at $60 – they’re some of the least valuable property on the board.

This is because of their position – because of how close they are to Go, players have the lowest chance of landing on the brown properties.

This is because players are more likely to start at Go than pretty much any position on the board (with the exception of Jail).

Because the brown properties are so close to Go, it’s impossible for them to land on Mediterranean Avenue (when starting at Go) and very unlikely to land on Baltic Avenue.

Additionally, the ROI on the brown properties is not as good as some other properties.

For example, here’s the return on investment you get from rent when you own a single property:

• Baltic Avenue – 6.66% ($4 rent on $60 purchase price).
• Mediterranean Avenue – 3.33% ($2 rent on $60 purchase price).

That gives it an average ROI of 5%, which puts it at the bottom of the table. In contrast, the dark blue properties have an average ROI of 11.3% (the highest), whereas most other sets are in the 7-9% range.

If you look at this chart from CMGlee, you can see that the brown properties generally have some of the lowest ratios across the board, though Baltic does do surprisingly well if you put a hotel on it:

Note – click here to view the full interactive image. Opening the full image will let you hover over the chart to see the exact values.

Overall, this means that purchasing the brown properties should not be at the top of your priority list.

Still, they are quite affordable, so you might want to consider buying them if you can easily pick up the set and you don’t have many other options.

Monopoly Brown Properties FAQ

To finish things out, let’s recap a few common questions you might have about the brown and purple Monopoly properties.

What are the brown properties in Monopoly?

The brown properties are named Mediterranean Avenue and Baltic Avenue in the classic Monopoly game. The names will vary in other editions of Monopoly.

How many brown squares are there in Monopoly?

There are two brown squares in Monopoly. The first square is immediately beside Go while the second square is the third square after Go. There is a Community Chest square in between the two brown Monopoly properties.

How much are the brown properties in Monopoly?

Each brown property costs $60 in the classic Monopoly game. The prices will vary in other editions.

What is the mortgage value of the brown properties in Monopoly?

Each brown square has a mortgage value of $30 in the classic Monopoly game.

Why did Monopoly change purple properties to brown?

Monopoly changed the purple properties to brown in 2008 to be consistent with other versions of the game.

Prior to the change, some versions had the properties as purple and others had them as brown. Since 2008, all versions use brown for the properties.

Start Playing Smarter Today

The brown properties are the lowest value properties in Monopoly, both in terms of rent and return on investment, so they probably won’t form a pillar of your Monopoly strategy.

However, they do still have some value, and their affordable prices make them easy to purchase.

Now that you understand more about them, you can start making the optimal decisions in your game.