Housing Growth Stagnates in Boston Suburbs

Boston economists are sounding the alarm: while the city itself is adding plenty of housing, there's not a lot happening in the suburbs. That may adversely affect older folks who want to sell and younger people looking to buy.

November 30, 2017, 10am PST | Philip Rojc | @PhilipRojc

Bill Damon

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Tim Logan discusses work by Northeastern University economist Barry Bluestone, who argues that as central Boston adds more housing, "working families are being priced out by graduate students and young professionals, while too little is being built in more-affordable areas."

Boston's share of the region's construction, Logan writes, has nearly doubled since 2012. "While a handful of towns — from Plymouth to Framingham to Chelmsford — have added large amounts of housing in the past few years, most towns near Boston have added very little, especially in the form of modestly priced apartment and condo buildings."

Already unaffordable to many, the area's real estate market may pay the price down the line. "[Building too little housing is] a mistake, Bluestone said, and one that many towns will realize only when aging baby boomers want to sell their single-family homes but have nowhere smaller to move to. Those folks will either stay put, which will prevent needed housing from coming onto the market, or uproot entirely and leave the area for a lack of somewhere suitable to live."

Full Story:

There’s barely any housing being built in the suburbs

Published on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 in The Boston Globe