Home & Garden
How Massachusetts Plans to Better Its Neighborhoods
Policy changes and trends that will hopefully improve the housing market
Joined by many states across the country, particularly in the Northeast, Massachusetts is focused on the revitalization and rehabilitation of some of its cities. Just this past fall, MassINC and the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations with Alan Mallach (a senior fellow at the Center for Community Progress) drafted a blueprint for policy to strengthen damaged cities. The state has been working to revitalize some of its cities since the housing crisis hit the area hard in the second half of the 2000s.
Efforts have proven fruitful, with Zillow reporting that the Massachusetts housing market is growing. Just this past year, the value of homes in the state grew 5.6% and they are predicted to rise another 10% this year. The median value of homes in Massachusetts is currently $405, 800, which is over double the median value of homes in the US.
While the policy has a huge effect on the housing market, a lot of the home improvements across the country can be attributed to the rise in popularity of home improvement shows. With DIY renovation on the rise, people are putting more care into their homes knowing they don’t necessarily have to hire someone for every little project (though for some it is definitely best to hire a professional). In Massachusetts, for example, the most popular home renovation show is Sweat Equity, in which couples compete to get the highest return on a home after spending two weeks renovating it. When people watch a show like this, they are able to see people like them complete projects that they themselves are capable of completing. It has proven to be very enabling.
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The combination of public policy efforts to revitalize neighborhoods in Massachusetts along with the rise of people completing small improvement projects on their own have both contributed to the upward trend of the real estate market in the state. It will be interesting to watch the Massachusetts housing market throughout the year and see if the upward trend continues.