"So now they're allowed by-right, but what we see here, on the one hand, is really profound change from what we did before. On the other hand, 15 projects add up to less than 100 net new units." That is Newton zoning researcher Amy Dain, speaking to the Newton Beacon in March 2026 about the Village Center Overlay District. In the same interview, she pointed out that Newton has almost 3,000 new units coming through developments outside the overlay, at Northland, Riverside and Newton Crossing in West Newton.
The city's records show where that supply is headed. The large projects are being permitted and counted as apartments. Most new ownership supply comes from a few small buildings on residential side streets.
What Newton's Own Project List Shows
The City of Newton keeps a running table of major developments. It was last updated October 5, 2026. Here is how the city's development projects page describes each project, along with its status:
| Project | Village | Scale | How it is described | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northland Needham Street | Upper Falls | 822 units, 145 affordable | 10 new buildings plus mill reuse | Under construction |
| Newton Crossing / Dunstan East | West Newton | 292 units | Residential with ground-floor retail | Under construction |
| West Newton Armory | West Newton | 43 units | Apartments | Under construction |
| 386–390 Watertown Street | Nonantum | 10 units | Apartment building | Under construction |
| 78 Crafts Street | Newtonville | 295 units per developer | Rental apartment buildings | Comprehensive Permit approved |
| 38 Crafts Street | Newtonville | 234 units, 59 affordable | Multifamily building | Comprehensive Permit approved |
| 528 Boylston Street | Thompsonville | Not stated | Rental apartment building | Comprehensive Permit approved |
| Riverside | Auburndale | Roughly 753 units approved | Mixed use | Special Permit approved |
| 41 Washington Street | Newton Corner | Not stated | Condominium building | Denied; under appeal at the Housing Appeals Committee |
Only one project in the table is called a condominium building, the replacement of a Victorian home at 41 Washington Street. Its comprehensive permit was denied. For the rest, the city's language and the developers' own descriptions use words like "rental apartment," "apartments" and "multifamily."
Two entries are still moving. A Planning Department memo dated August 26, 2026 describes a revised 38 Crafts Street scheme of 228 units, with 57 affordable at 80% of area median income. At Riverside, the City Council approved the special permit in December 2025, according to the Newton Beacon. By August 2026, Fig City News reported talks about a revised plan. Under that plan, two buildings would become about 267 senior-living units, the total would drop by roughly 55 to 75 units, and the MBTA agreement would still require construction to begin by March 2027. Final counts were still being discussed.
The Counting Rule Behind the Apartments
The pipeline leans toward rentals partly because of how Massachusetts measures a town's affordable housing. Under Chapter 40B, the state tracks each municipality on a Subsidized Housing Inventory, or SHI. A town at 10% or above reaches a "safe harbor" and gains more control over large comprehensive-permit projects.
The state's 40B guidelines treat the two kinds of housing very differently. For rentals, the text reads:
"In a rental or ALF development, if at least 25% of units are to be occupied by Income Eligible Households earning 80% or less than the area median income, or alternatively, if at least 20% of units are to be occupied by households earning 50% or less of area median income... then all of the units in the rental development shall be eligible for inclusion on the SHI."
For homeownership, the same document says only the units that meet the eligibility requirements count. So a 300-unit rental building that meets the set-aside adds 300 units to the town's count. A 300-unit condo building with the same share of affordable units adds only those affordable units. Fig City News gave a local example in January 2024: all 370 units at Northland Charlemont count, because 25% are affordable at 80% of area median income.
Newton is close enough to the 10% line that these totals change its status. A city memo dated July 25, 2025 says Newton first reached safe harbor on January 8, 2024, then fell to 9.72% on July 8, 2025. The memo says the drop came because Newton Crossing's 292 units became ineligible when no final certificate of occupancy was issued within the 18-month window. A few months later, the state's SHI table, current as of September 30, 2025, listed Newton at 10.68%, with 3,537 SHI units out of 33,116 year-round homes. The city and the state give different figures for different dates, and no published reconciliation has appeared since. In both versions, Newton's percentage moved with a single rental building.
For a buyer, the practical point is that the projects with the most units are the ones built to count in full toward that 10% line, and those are rentals.
Where the For-Sale Units Are Coming From
Ownership housing is growing, but slowly and in small pieces. The overlay district lets owners near transit add units by right, and the city says it does not require anyone to redevelop. The city's VCOD tracker, dated August 13, lists 20 projects with 163 units in total. Most of them are three to six units in the lower-height MRT zone, and most are in Ward 6:
- 47 and 49 Chase Street, four units each, both occupied
- 121–125 Hyde Street, 6–10 Floral Street and 75 Floral Street, under construction
- 312 and 331–333 Lake Avenue, six units each, under construction
- 40 and 50 Hartford Street, in building permit review
- 40 Cypress Street, ten units, in engineering site plan review
In its December 2025 newsletter, the advocacy group Newton for Everyone described builders at five or more Newton Highlands and Newton Centre locations using MRT zoning to keep existing homes while adding units. The larger projects in the overlay are in the denser village-center zones. They are 19 Highland Avenue with 32 units, which has site plan approval, and 15 Spencer Street with 29 units.
The tracker does not say whether any project is for rent or for sale, and the projects that have finished show both outcomes. At 424 Newtonville Avenue, a four-bedroom, 2,985-square-foot unit in a newly formed four-unit association sold for $1.30 million in February 2025. A unit at 49 Chase Street went to market as a rental in 2026. A small MRT building near a Newton Highlands station could become owner-occupied condos, investor-held rentals or a mix of the two, so a buyer has to follow each project.
Single-family replacement is changing the streets faster than the overlay. A Zoning and Planning Committee report from September 28, 2026 cites more than 400 Newton homes demolished or approved for demolition in the last five years. It also notes that developers can seek a demolition-delay waiver four months into the delay period. A citizen petition reported by the Newton Beacon the same day would allow up to four units on lots where current zoning permits two. That is a proposal, not adopted zoning.
What the August Numbers Say About Condos
With new ownership supply this thin, the condo market depends on resales, and one month of data can give a misleading picture. The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS' Local Market Update for August 2026 puts Newton's median condo sale price at $1,060,000 that month, up 24.5% from August 2025. That figure comes from 18 closings, and the report warns that a single month can look extreme with a small sample.
The year-to-date figures in the same report show the opposite trend:
- Condo closings through August 2026 totaled 230, up 17.3% from 196 a year earlier.
- The year-to-date condo median fell 8.1%, to $1,085,000.
- Cumulative days on market in August reached 67, up 42.6% year over year.
- August sellers received 96.0% of original list price, and 74 condos were for sale at month-end.
Through August 2026, more Newton condos changed hands than a year earlier, at lower prices, and listings took longer to sell. Single-family homes behaved differently. In August 2026 the single-family median was $1,823,000, down 1.5% from a year earlier. Inventory fell 9.0% to 91 homes, which equals 2.1 months of supply, and sellers received 98.3% of original list price. Condos had 2.7 months of supply and longer selling times, so a condo buyer had more time and room to negotiate than a single-family buyer in the same month.
That matters even more given the pipeline. The roughly 3,000 units under way are mostly apartments and will not add to the condo resale pool. So in a typical month, condo choice still comes from a few dozen existing listings plus whatever the small MRT buildings bring to market as for-sale units. In a condo that is already built, layout, light and finish quality affect what a unit can command more than they would in a market that keeps adding new inventory.
Questions Buyers Ask
Will Riverside or Northland add condos I can buy? The city's project list and the reporting reviewed here do not describe either project as for-sale housing. Riverside's revision, which includes senior living, was still under discussion as of August 2026.
How can I tell whether a new small building near me will be condos? The VCOD tracker gives the address, unit count and permit stage, but not tenure. The condo documents or the listing itself will show how the units are offered.
Is there newer data than August 2026? When this was written in mid-October, August 2026 was the most recent closed-sales report available for Newton from the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS.
If you're deciding between a Newton condo resale and waiting for a new building near a village station, Pacella & Co. can walk you through what's listed, what is going through the VCOD tracker on your street, and how a unit's design and layout compare with nearby condos that recently sold. Let's Connect for a free home valuation or a buyer consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
