Boston’s Luxury Condo Market Still Cold
Red hot for years, has the Boston luxury condo market finally lost its sizzle? It looks like it – and developers’ ability to offer cash back at closing could be keeping prices from coming down.
How to Get a One-of-a-Kind Home, The Easy Way
Even though I live in a custom-designed house, I don’t recommend designing your own place from scratch. It’s not for everyone.
Downtown Boston Needs More than New Zoning to Bounce Back
Can downtown Boston escape the so-called urban doom loop? Probably. But it’s going to take a lot more than new “skyline” zoning for taller towers to bring it back.
Door Opens to Flip a House for Yourself, Not Profit
High mortgage rates, soaring house prices and rising construction costs have driven many flippers out of the market. And with their exit comes a great opportunity for people eager to buy a fixer-upper of their own.
Don’t Let NIMBYs Kill Green Power
NIMBY local pols and naysayers wrecked the housing market in Massachusetts. Now, they’re threatening to do the same thing with the state’s new clean energy industry unless Beacon Hill can stop them.
Fixed-Rate Loan Payments Can Go Up
If you have a fixed-rate mortgage, your payments will always stay the same, right? Wrong. Taxes and insurance premiums invariably rise – which means your house payment does, too.
Boston Mayor Shocks Real Estate with Office Tax Rate Hike
The scale of Mayor Michelle Wu’s planned massive hike to tax rates on office, lab and retail buildings comes at a terrible time. And she seems to be ignoring an important alternative strategy.
Setting the Record Straight on the NAR Settlement
The reporting on the recent $418 million settlement with the National Association of Realtors and several large national brokerage companies has been so atrocious that I must jump in.
MCCA Made the Right Call
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has a chance to make a dent in several problems problem by rethinking what it does with its 6.5 acres of empty D Street and E Street lots.
Turn on the Taps at Ex-Bases
Money for a sewer and water connection isn’t headline news – unless it means unlocking 6,000 long-anticipated housing units near a commuter rail station.
Stop. You’re Making It Worse
Recent hoopla about soft landings aside, the Federal Reserve’s drive to bring down prices has made immeasurably worse what was already the most expensive item in Americans’ budgets: the cost of housing.
Put Your Listings to the Nose Test
Nothing turns up buyers’ noses faster than a smelly house. They walk in, stop, take a whiff and are ready to turn around and leave. Some won’t even go beyond the front door.
Banker & Tradesman’s Editorial Cartoon: AI Takes an Old Form
As banks experiment with new uses for AI, it’s showing up in some surprisingly old-fashioned ways in familiar places.
Banker & Tradesman’s Editorial Cartoon: Barriers to Building
Local officials are getting creative with efforts to prevent development of new housing within their borders. Just answer these riddles, solve this Rubik’s cube, then…
Which Comes First? A Buyer’s Dilemma
Young people have many options when it comes to homeownership – perhaps too many. Should they get married first or buy their first home? Buy a dream car or a house? Find a dream house or a dream mortgage rate?
To Get Real Housing Production, Let’s Break Out the Carrots
It’s become increasingly clear that the MBTA Communities housing law is no silver bullet. So why not make new housing a profit center for towns and suburbs, rather than a perceived drag?
It’s Two Steps Forward, One Step Back in Fixing Our Biggest Problems
The last week shows progress is likely to be two steps forward and one step back given decades of neglected maintenance at the T and the NIMBY backlash to the Healey administration’s housing plans.
Banker & Tradesman’s Editorial Cartoon: Looking Worse for Wear
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is fresh from Super Tuesday and rethinking her life choices.
Foreign Firms Make Inroads on U.S. Homebuilding
As federal and state authorities continue to clamp down on foreign investments in American businesses and real estate that could pose a risk to national security, some foreign entities are expanding into American homebuilding.
Pay Attention to Train Electrification
The dream of frequent, electrified suburban trains in Greater Boston has long seemed perennially on the horizon. Could this time be different? Indications are, yes. And housing developers should start keeping an eye on the project.
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