
New Construction Makes Up Nearly 1 in 5 Boston Houses for Sale
With most homeowners who might have sold in other years sitting tight, the share of newly-built homes in the Greater Boston housing market has nearly doubled in a single year.
With most homeowners who might have sold in other years sitting tight, the share of newly-built homes in the Greater Boston housing market has nearly doubled in a single year.
Rhode Island representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday designed to make it easier to convert office buildings, schools, churches, shopping malls, mills and other commercial real estate into housing.
The front-runner in the race for governor wants to have her cake and eat it too when it comes to rent control – an idea with the potential to shut down housing production in Greater Boston.
Gov. Charlie Baker is among those disappointed that Beacon Hill Democrats couldn’t agree on a plan to put nearly $4 billion to work across the economy before breaking for the winter holidays. Legislative proposals for the money include hundreds of millions of dollars aimed at housing production and down payment assistance for homebuyers of color.
Severe winter weather in much of the country and spiking lumber prices pushed home construction down a sharp 10.3 percent in February while applications for new construction fell by 10.8 percent.
As COVD-19 infection rates continue to wane in Massachusetts, the state’s residential construction trade group has debuted a set of pandemic-specific safety standards for homebuilders and remodelers throughout the state.
While much of the work done in Massachusetts has shifted to being performed remotely, if at all, during the coronavirus pandemic, many construction sites are still buzzing with activity and the Baker administration is planning to provide some guidance in the coming days to ensure that work is done safely.
If you believe the way out of the housing crisis is to build, build, build, then Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone is your guy. But as Somerville voters prepare to go to the polls Tuesday, housing has emerged as area of political vulnerability for the 53-year-old mayor, who first took office in 2003 and has overseen the creation of 2,200 units in his city since 2010.
Flanked by housing and economic development officials whose tenures in state government date back to 2004, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito called on lawmakers to pass the Baker administration’s housing production bill in the next 11 weeks.
Some affluent suburbs like Weston are trying to use age-restricted Chapter 40B affordable housing developments to gain “safe harbor” from the law without helping change the dynamics of the regional real estate market.
While we wish January’s home sales statistics could offer better news in the depths of this slushy winter, this week’s issue of Banker & Tradesman comes bearing bad news for homebuyers.
The Baker administration and municipal officials across Massachusetts expect to hear from the federal government within 30 days about their newly submitted request for approval of 138 zones where new federal tax incentives could be used to spark investment in rural and low-income communities.