Real Estate Transfer Fee In The Affordable Homes Act
The LOHA coalition is thrilled that the Healy administration decided to include a local option for real estate transfer fees in its Affordable Homes Act (AHA) - a housing bond bill which we believe will be passed in some form this legislative session. This bill would make unprecedented investments in many housing programs AND would authorize cities and towns to adopt a real estate transfer fee.
LOHA believes a few revisions are necessary to make the local option work for as many municipalities in as flexible a manner as possible. The AHA was report out favorably from the Joint Committee on Housing and the bill is now with House Ways and Means
Desperate to stop growing statewide support for a fee on luxury real estate that would fund and preserve affordable housing – including for seniors and first-time homebuyers – the Greater Boston Real Estate Board is blanketing the state with false advertising. The transfer fee is supported by the Healey administration and sought as a solution to the affordable housing crisis by dozens of communities around the state. It would let communities exempt first-time home buyers, seniors and any low-cost home from the fee – the exact opposite of what the GBREB ad claims.
How Much Money Could The Transfer Fee Generate For Your Town?
Using 2022 Warren Group Data that includes both residential and commercial data we are able to estimate how much money the transfer fee, as written in the Affordable Homes Act, would be able to generate for different municipalities in Massachusetts. As you look at each city or town the map will show you the total amount of revenue collected on sales over $1,000,000, what percentage of real estate transactions would be subject to the transfer fee and how much revenue could be generated depending on what percentage fee a municipality chooses to levy.
It is important to note that these predictions do not account for exemptions that many current policies carve out such as first-time homebuyers, transfers between families or vulnerable seniors. In addition, the dollar amount that could be raised is based on the municipality applying the fee to only the value above the million dollar threshold (which is what the Affordable Homes Act allows for - read more about that and our recommendations on how to improve the policy here). Lastly, for towns located in counties where the median home sale price is above $1,000,000 (Dukes County and Nantucket), the map still shows what could be raised at the $1,000,000 threshold and not the county median as called for in the Affordable Homes Act.