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THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND REAL ESTATE WEEKLY FOR MASSACHUSETTS BY THE NUMBERS
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County close-up: Worcester Spotlight: Hopedale
If you’ve got a question about zoning laws in Massachusetts or what to do before appearing in front of a local zoning board, Barry Crimmins is your man. Having grown up in a real estate family, Crimmins has spent nearly 40 years working in the industry, 32 of them practicing law in the field.
IN PERSON
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WEEK OF MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
2,810 The number of single-family home sales in the state in February. See Week on the Web on page 2. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
$275,000 The median home sale price in Worcester County in 2018. See By the Numbers on page 6. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
$75,600 The median income of a Boston-area worker whose commute is more than 90 minutes. See Week on the Web on page 2. Source: Apartment List
2,285 The number of housing units in the 5.3-square-mile town of Hopedale. See the Town Spotlight in By the Numbers on page 6. Source: U.S. Census Bureau
HELLO RENT CONTROL GOODBYE NEW APARTMENTS New Proposal on Beacon Hill Could Snuff Out Production
BY SCOTT VAN VOORHIS BANKER & TRADESMAN COLUMNIST
A
new push by a pair of progressive state lawmakers to bring back rent control, if successful, would push Greater Boston’s already crazy rents even higher. Overnight, it would pull the rug out from under the apartment boom, one that has seen a bevy of new rental high-rises take shape in Boston and Cambridge. Think I’m blowing hot air? Just look at the record of what got built – or more accurately what didn’t – during the two decades rent control held sway in Boston, Cambridge and Brookline.
5,759 square feet The size of the most expensive singlefamily home sale in this week’s Gossip Report. See page 9. Source: The Warren Group
620 During the first quarter of 2019, 13 percent of FHA borrowers had FICO scores below 620. See Ken Harney’s column on page 4. Source: Federal Housing Administration
Threat of Expansion Scared Off Investors
From the early 1970s through the mid1990s, downtown Boston saw just one new, market-rate apartment high-rise take shape
downtown, the Devonshire in Downtown Crossing. Think about that. Just one new apartment tower in two decades. It wasn’t exactly like developers were sitting on their hands, especially in Boston. The 1970s and ’80s were the glory days of office tower development in Boston, and gave us local landmarks like the Hancock and International Place towers. But developers who built office towers knew they were free to charge the rents they needed to charge to make a profit and pay back their investors. In theory, that should have been true in the apartment market as well, even with rent control. When Massachusetts lawmakers passed rent control in 1970, the legislation only applied to existing apartments, with
Over 400 The number of condominiums under construction in the largest “passive house” in the U.S. See Steve Adam’s story on page 7. Source: Millennium Partners
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module, Loan Originator Module, Statistics Module and/or proprietary database. For more information please visit www.thewarrengroup.com/business/ datasolutions.
Continued on Page 1
SUPER-SEALED STRUCTURE
I N T E R E S T R AT E S
By Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Fed Did Not Raise Rates Enough to Boost Loan Yields
Fed’s Decision to Pause Millennium Pushes the Envelope at Winthrop Center Rate Hikes Could Lead Passive House Design Provides to Spread Compression Baked-In Energy Savings By Bram Berkowitz | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Commercial Real Estate PAGE 7
Banking & Lending PAGE 8