Finding affordable housing is the bane of homebuyers in Cambridge and Somerville, but in February was a bleak market for finding much of anything.
Listings of single-family homes in Cambridge in February 2026 were down 13.3 percent from February 2025, while listings of condominiums were down 5.3 percent for the same period, according to a report by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Somerville saw home listings plummet 53 percent and condominium listings 28.8 percent in the same period.
Meanwhile, sales of single-family homes across Greater Boston are down 11 percent year-over-year to date in 2026 compared to 2025, and condo sales are down 6.5 percent, according to a report from The Warren Group. In February, sales of single family homes fell by 6.8 percent compared to February 2025, and condo sales were off 11.2 percent.
“Sales are always down in February because people are not home hunting in December and January, and January was particularly bleak this year,” said Cassidy Norton, associate publisher and media relations director at The Warren Group, a real estate analytics firm. Norton noted that there was little inventory available for sale, interest rates had risen, and macroeconomic concerns might be weighing on buyers. In addition, February saw snowstorms, frigid temperatures and power outages.
The local real estate market operates on a bell curve, where sales are down at the beginning and the end of the year and high in the middle of the year, Norton said. She expects the real estate market to be stronger in March and to pick up further in April. “Houses show better when it’s not freezing cold,” she said.
MIT lists three apartment buildings
Perhaps anticipating a stronger market, MIT put three off-campus apartment buildings up for sale on March 11 and 12, two of which are near Harvard Square:
- The University Building at 1039 Massachusetts Ave. is a 26-unit, 20,317 sq. ft. building listed for $12 million.
- The Cantabrigia Building at 1010 Massachusetts Ave. is a 56-unit, 41,000-plus sq. ft. building with 27 parking spaces in an adjacent lot. It is listed for $26 million.
- A third building, at 22-24 Magazine St., is 12 units and 16,000 sq. ft., priced at $12 million.The building was gut-renovated in 2017 following a fire and includes open-concept kitchens, private balconies and in-unit laundry.
An MIT spokesperson confirmed that the university owns the buildings and has put them up for sale, but declined to say why.
People familiar with the local real estate market who asked not to be named noted that MIT may have put these buildings up for sale to address cash needs. The university has lost perhaps as much as $300 million in federal funding since the beginning of the Trump Administration. Also, as a university with an endowment of more than $2 million per student, its endowment tax was raised from 1.4 percent to eight percent, estimated to increase its federal tax payments by more than $100 million. MIT is also one of the largest property owners in Cambridge and could be shifting its real estate portfolio.
Regardless, “I’m sure they will be snapped up immediately” unless in need of significant repairs or depending on the layout, Norton said.“Housing is always a good bet . . . especially in the Cambridge, Somerville, Boston area.”
But she also predicted they will remain high-end housing, “luxury units that don’t help anybody” seeking more affordable housing.
According to the university’s housing website, MIT owns 11 undergraduate dormitory buildings and nine residences for graduate students.
Meanwhile, Lesley University has put one of its dormitories, 33 Everett Street, on the market with an asking price of $19.8 million. The listing says it is a 43,112 sq. ft. building with 69 rooms, plus a dining hall, a commercial-grade kitchen and resident common areas. Lesley has sold a number of properties in recent years, many of them purchased by Cambridge Housing Authority.
A stronger
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