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A rift emerges in the Boston apartment rental market
The Supreme Court dropped the hammer on nonpaying tenants Thursday, ruling President Joe Biden’s latest eviction ban unconstitutional.
The decision frees landlords to move forward with eviction proceedings, except in the few places where local moratoriums remain in place. New York’s ban, which was severely weakened by the high court this month, is due to expire Aug. 31.
It might still be many months before landlords can get tenants out, given the backlog of cases and the shortage of funds for smaller property owners to hire attorneys. Many will opt for federal rent relief to be paid out by states, a process that has been delayed in much of the nation and especially in New York.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that the Centers for Disease Control had exceeded its authority in issuing the moratorium by relying on a law granting it powers to protect public health in emergencies.
The three liberal justices dissented, ruling that the coronavirus pandemic is just such an emergency and that the majority rushed a decision that merited ample argument and careful consideration.A rift emerges in the Boston apartment rental market
The turn of events was not a surprise, given that in a ruling upholding the CDC’s even more sweeping moratorium that ended July 31, the court indicated that future moratoriums would require an act of Congress. But Democrats lacked the votes to pass such a measure, and Republicans did not entertain giving them any.
The original CDC moratorium, imposed in September during the Trump administration, covered all 50 states. The one canceled by the high court Thursday was in effect in counties where Covid rates were high — a classification which, when the ban was implemented Aug. 3, applied to about 80 percent of counties in the country.
Boston Beacon Hill Apartments for Rent
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A rift emerges in the Boston apartment rental market
A rift is emerging in the downtown Boston real estate apartment market, the result of the very different pandemic realities for the city’s wealthy and less-wealthy residents.
Plummeting demand for luxury Boston apartment living has led high-end apartments to slash rents and offer gangbuster deals to lure new tenants. Meanwhile, rents in less-expensive apartment rental markets have stayed flat or even ticked up since October as remote workers seek more space — and many laid off due to the pandemic migrate out of the city to cut costs.
Boston Real Estate and the Bottom Line
The actual price drops are likely even steeper in areas like the Beacon Hill apartment rental market. This doesn’t even factor in lease concessions like months of free rent and landlords picking up broker fee as incentives that are now common among the Midtown area’s glassy, top-tier apartment complexes wooing new tenants.
