6.3 An Adequate Housing Supply

Housing costs are driven by the relationship between supply and demand. Metro Boston has historically offered a range of housing options, and as the population grew, more housing was constructed—as evidenced by the construction booms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the mid-1980s.

The mid-1990s through 2000 saw a booming economy accompanied by the population growth to support it.  Population and households increased as new workers, including newcomer immigrants, moved into the region in response, in part, to a tight labor market.  In Boston, the influx of newcomer immigrants was accompanied by the return of empty nesters to city living and an increase in the student population.

Weakness in the local economy paired with continued high housing costs in the first half of this decade led to a shrinking workforce and less demand for rental housing. High purchase prices and a strengthening economy are starting to turn this around, renewing the pressures for new housing in a market that has not supported sufficient housing production.