Residential Property Assessment Equity

At a glance

• What: Docket No. 0586, an order for a hearing to review discrepancies between market value and tax-assessed value for residential properties in Boston and to evaluate the city's assessment practices. Sponsored by Councilor Culpepper (lead), Councilor Murphy and Councilor Worrell; referred to the Ways and Means Committee on March 18, 2026.
• Where it stands: heard on October 8, 2026 by the committee chaired by Councilor Weber. No vote was taken and the hearing was adjourned. The assessing department agreed to send the committee several data sets (see below).
• What to watch: the data the assessing department promised, the annual tax rate shift and residential exemption votes the commissioner said are coming in a few weeks, and any follow-up hearing or ordinance on high-end valuation methods.

The question

• Data behind the hearing order compared sale prices with assessed values. The 20 lowest-priced single-family sales in 2022, 2023 and 2024 were assessed at roughly 105%, 103% and 95.5% of sale price. The 20 highest-priced residential sales were assessed at about 80% in the 2023 and 2024 sets and about 68% for 2025. Examples cited included a Commonwealth Avenue sale of about $21 million assessed at $12.5 million and another near $15 million assessed at about $4.4 million.
• The sponsors asked whether the system is accurate and fair across the full range of the housing market, and what the city could change if it is not.

Assessing department position (Interim Commissioner Helen Wong)

• The department values about 190,000 parcels (roughly $295 billion in assessed value; about $3.5 billion in property tax revenue in fiscal 2026). Every property must be inspected at least once every ten years; staff also visit for building permits and abatement requests.
• Values come from a multiple linear regression model run in the department's computer-assisted appraisal system, using arm's-length sales from the calendar year before the January 1 lien date (calendar 2024 sales set fiscal 2026 values). Non-market transfers (family sales, foreclosures) are screened out. Units over three use an income approach built on confidential owner-reported rents and expenses.
• The state Bureau of Local Assessment must certify the values; the next five-year recertification is expected in 2030. The department also runs a Lincoln Institute of Land Policy equity tool and says the city passes all statistical tests, including the price-related differential of about 1.00.
• On the sales in the hearing order, Commissioner Wong said the report appears to use calendar 2025 sales, which cannot be used for fiscal 2026 and will enter the fiscal 2027 analysis, and that high-end outliers are expected in every Massachusetts city. Earlier in the hearing she had said the high-end sales were from calendar 2024. She could not explain individual gaps without seeing the specific records. She said the model would not value all Beacon Hill-area two-families at $20 million on one sale without adequate support. Councilor Culpepper pressed this repeatedly and called it a major problem the hearing had not resolved.
• Taxpayers can check the property record card and comparable sales on the city website, meet the area assessor, and file an abatement between January 1 and February 1 (decision within three months; fewer than 2% file and fewer than 1% appeal). Challenging an assessment carries no penalty. A third of sales are not on the multiple listing service, so the department also uses the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, brokers and owners.

Outside panel

• Chris Lehman (Small Property Owners Association): argued the system undervalues the highest-end homes (68% to 80% of sale price on average, many under half, some under 30%) while naturally affordable rentals such as triple-deckers are assessed at about 113% in a survey. He put the fiscal 2026 under-assessment of just the top 20 homes at $83 million and said the residential exemption shifts cost onto rental housing, with studies showing 50% to 89% of property tax differences passed on to renters.
• Prof. Ruchi Singh (University of Georgia, real estate): said a handful of top sales cannot show how 100,000-plus assessments work; the lowest and highest tenths of single-family sales were within one percentage point in fiscal 2026, though finer cuts widen the gap. She said the tails are hardest to value (few comparables, unseen interiors) and suggested finer location controls, spatial quantile regression, independent automated valuation checks, interior condition data and appraiser visits for the very top homes. She said the flat residential exemption makes tax bills progressive among owners (a $500,000 home pays about 0.4% of value, a $5 million home about 1.2%) but does not help renters, and that every eligible owner should be applying.

Councilor concerns

• Flynn focused on long-time owners facing 10% and 13% increases in two years and a possible further rise, and on neighbors who paid far more for similar homes. FitzGerald asked how valuation works across income levels, what the software cannot do, how residents can spot an outlier and whether absentee landlords pay more; he also worried about speculative development sales feeding the market value.
• Councilor Weber asked about the exemption versus other cities (the commissioner said Lincoln Institute work ranks it among the top three), manual model adjustments and how outliers are treated, and whether the top-20 versus bottom-20 comparison is cherry-picked (Singh: the segments were predefined, but a linear model misses the tails).
• Commissioner Wong said the city cannot say how many eligible owners fail to claim the residential exemption because it holds no occupancy data (over 75,000 properties receive it). Any new exemption structure would need state law; she noted the administration has related petitions at the Legislature.

Public testimony

• A Savin Hill resident urged a third property class for buildings of four to six units and a cap on increases until sale, and said some exemptions go to owners who have died. Former Councilor Frank Baker said bills have outrun household budgets and that the tax rate is set outside the Council. A former assessing department employee described, as personal experience, concerns about uneven abatement review and asked for independent review; these claims were not tested at the hearing.

Data promised by the assessing department

• Assessment-to-sale ratios for homes that sold for $2 million, $3 million, $5 million and $10 million and above.
• How many properties in each single-family, two-family and three-family quartile fall below a ratio of 0.92.
• Ratios and related measures for properties valued by the income approach, by assessment district, with district maps.
• Residential exemption applicant data, and per-bedroom breakdowns for multifamily and apartment buildings.

Sources

• 2026-10-08 - Ways and Means Committee (captioned recording)
• 2026-10-08 - Ways and Means Committee (agenda)

Discussion time

About 145 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Log

• 2026-10-08 - Ways and Means Committee - Hearing on Docket No. 0586: the interim assessing commissioner presented the valuation process and answered councilors; two panelists, a landlord-association board member and a real estate professor, gave opposing readings of the data; three members of the public testified; no vote and the hearing was adjourned.