Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Boston’s rental market may be topping out, according to new figures from online real estate marketplace Ten-X. The company -- formerly known as Auction.Com -- issued a report ranking Boston among five markets with a “sell” rating on apartment buildings right now, suggesting the boom times of recent years may be drying up.

WORCESTER - Lawyers who successfully argued last year to have the city's aggressive panhandling ordinance overturned say the city's request to drastically reduce the fees and costs the plaintiffs can recover is "meritless."

MARTHA'S VINEYARD --- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston has awarded the nonprofit Island Housing Trust a $390,000 grant through the Edgartown National Bank for the construction of six new energy-efficient apartments in downtown Vineyard Haven.

FRAMINGHAM – The town has issued a “stop work” order against a couple building a tiny, 200-square-foot house on wheels behind a Framingham church.

CHELSEA --- The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) approved a 34-unit affordable housing project on the French Club site Tuesday night, Feb. 9, in a unanimous 3-0 vote – an approval that marked many months of community input and a complete redesign by developer TND. “It was nice to see the responsiveness that TND had to the neighborhood concerns,” said ZBA Member Janice Tatarka. “I believe this is a better proposal and it was important for you to listen and to hear the concerns.”

NEWTON --- Local developer Robert Korff has unveiled plans to build a six-story mixed-use development with 151 one- and two-bedroom apartments (26 affordable) at the corner of Washington and Walnut streets, right across the street from an MBTA stop and near a 68-unit five-story development on Austin St. which the city council just approved.