BOSTON-Much like in the past, immigrants to Massachusetts are driving the state's multifamily housing market, pushing sales to new highs as they buy up freestanding apartment homes especially in older mill towns. "Wherever the highest concentration of multifamilies are, that's where the immigrants go," Conrad Allan, chairman of MLS Property Information Network, Inc. tells GlobeSt.com. "The immigrant market is driving the multifamily market."
Like others before them, newcomers are picking up multifamily properties in blue- collar communities. Like in the past, the homes they are buying in Dorchester, Worcester, Lowell and Lawrence and in other areas throughout the state are being used to house extended families. "Because they have more of a traditional family structure, they will buy a triple decker and occupy all three floors much like immigrants have before them," says Allan.
Immigrant demand has also helped push up prices, which have risen from an average price of $452,574 just one year ago to $474,574 today. Most of those homes are selling in the $200,000 to $699,000 range, according to statistics provided by MLS.
But while the immigrant factor is having an influence on multifamily properties, there is some good news for the state's single-family housing market as well. Much like their predecessors, Allan says, the new generation of multifamily owners will eventually buy single family properties.
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