Evidence & Studies
Both the City of Boston and the City of Somerville have commissioned independent analyses to understand the costs and benefits of enacting a Real Estate Transfer Fee. These studies show that this policy would generate millions of dollars for affordable housing, while having only a negligible effect on the real estate market. In addition, multiple reports completed by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center demonstrate how this revenue can be used and why alternative proposals are insufficient. Read the studies below.
“Communities seeking a transfer fee on high-end real estate sales are already collecting the CPA, most of them collecting the maximum surcharge, and spend more than 58 percent of their CPA funds on housing. This paper finds that across these communities, a transfer fee on high-end real estate sales can generate more than triple the new revenue of increased CPA surcharges.”
“With Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts, cities and towns have a tool that has proven effective in creating, acquiring, and preserving affordable housing. However, the level of need is much greater than the resources available, and the important work of MAHTs can be scaled up with additional revenue sources such as a local real estate transfer fee.”
“A real estate transfer tax has the potential to generate substantial tax revenue, given the billions of dollars of annual real estate sales in Boston.”
“Transfer taxes may have only muted impacts on real estate markets…”
