On February 10, 2025 the Cambridge City Council voted to adopt a new zoning code with the stated intention to increase the supply of housing thus reducing the cost of housing, The new zoning code allows for significantly higher lot density. In reality, the value of Cambridge real estate with development potential allowed by upzoning has INCREASED. The reason? Upzoning INCREASES LAND VALUES. More development rights create more value. Developers will bid more for land and that will incentivize them to build higher-cost luxury units – NOT affordable housing.
Housing developers and their investors then compete against individual and family homebuyers, causing housing prices to rise further. Here is an example. From 2017 to 2025, while the average Cambridge home sales price increased 66%, the sale price for 161 Grove Street – newly available for densification – more than doubled to $3.3 million. And then this year it was listed for a while at $5.7 million.
The bottom line is that upzoning may create more housing, but that does not necessarily mean more affordable housing. Now that Cambridge is seeing the real-world consequences, some City Council members are considering changes to reduce allowable density.
Because if the goal of upzoning was to make Cambridge more affordable, we need to ask: Is it actually doing the opposite?
