Skip to main content

2023 REALTOR® Legislative Priorities

Posted on
June 8th at 2:55pm.

Massachusetts REALTORS® are back at the State House on Monday, June 12th, 2023, for the first live Day on the Hill since 2019!

The Margaret C. Carlson REALTOR® Day at Beacon Hill is an annual event where REALTORS® from across the state have the opportunity to speak with their elected representatives on issues that affect housing and the real estate industry.

Please see the 2023 REALTOR® legislative priorities, along with associated bill numbers, listed below:

REALTORS® Support: Housing Production (H.233), which would:

  • Increase the availability of by-right multifamily and open space residential development as well as accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
  • Expand the simple majority voting threshold from the Housing Choice law to apply to variances and special permits, rather than the current two-thirds requirement.
  • Establish uniform site plan review standards will help alleviate the confusing local patchwork of site plan review processes, making development easier and more cost effective. This uniformity will assist communities that lack resources to create their own standards.

REALTORS® Support: First Time Homebuyer Savings Accounts (H.2727/S.1787), which would:

  • Allows future homebuyers, or their families, to deposit up to $5,000/year into a savings account and claim it as an income tax deduction. The gains are tax exempt, and the deductions are permitted for up to 15 years and $50,000.

REALTORS® Oppose: Transfer Taxes, which would:

  • Stifle diversity and inclusivity by raising the price to get into already expensive towns and discriminating against those looking to enter in favor of those who are already there.
  • Worsen Massachusetts’ longstanding housing affordability crisis by increasing the price of homeownership, often by thousands of dollars. Every $1,000 increase in the price of a home, prices out 1,727 MA residents. Rentals are also impacted, as increased tax costs will be passed along to tenants.

REALTORS® Support: First Time Homebuyer Savings Accounts (H.265/S.166), which would:

  • Require 4 of 40 licensing course hours and 2 of 12 biannual continuing education hours be completed in fair housing law or diversity and inclusion in real estate.
  • Provide technical cleanup by removing decades-old effective dates.
  • Alleviate misalignment with licensing provisions to incentivize new licensees to take continuing education courses earlier in their first renewal cycle.

REALTORS® Support: Helping Homeowners Afflicted with Crumbling Concrete Foundations (S.495 and S.2242), which would:

  • Educate homebuyers, sellers, and the general public through home inspections and a devoted relief agency.
  • Create standards for quarry testing and licensing (S.2242 standalone).
  • Have tax-exempt grants available for impacted homeowners.

REALTORS® OPPOSE: Rent Control, which would:

  • Disincentivize production and maintenance of multifamily housing.
  • Not address the real cause of the housing crisis in Massachusetts, which exists largely from decades of municipal NIMBYism that put up roadblocks to multifamily housing production.