By Stephanie Brown | WBUR | March 12, 2026
A new report from the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the Tufts Center for State Policy Analysis warns a proposed ballot initiative on rent control would reduce property values and “crush” municipal budgets.
The proposed rent control ballot measure would repeal Massachusetts’ ban on local rent control laws and set a statewide cap on annual rent increases of 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The limit would apply when apartments turn over, so landlords wouldn’t be able to make drastic rent hikes between tenants.
“ There are so many unintended consequences for cities and towns as a result of this question,” said Greg Vasil, chief executive of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. The board has historically opposed rent control measures.
Extrapolating from a 2014 study of rent control in Cambridge and a 2022 study in St. Paul, Minnesota, the report projects that a measure for Massachusetts would “immediately shrink the residential tax base by 6-9%” across the state. And in10 years, it claims, “property values would decrease by nearly 14% — costing home and property owners roughly $300 billion.”
In the short term, the report said, assessed property values would decrease because landlords couldn’t charge the rents they want and homeowners similarly couldn’t rent their property out “at a level that covers costs.”
Property values would continue to fall in ensuing years, the report said, because landlords would have less incoming revenue to invest in their properties and maintain them. That, in turn, could lead to what the report calls a “fiscal tsunami,” in which lower property values would mean declining residential property taxes paid to cities, forcing local officials to either raise taxes or cut spending on “vital public services like fire and police protection, snow removal and road repair” to fill the gap.
“City and towns are going to have to confront this,” Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said in a press conference Tuesday. “Do we want to collect this money or do we want to raise taxes on people?”
Full article available here.