Press Release  Governor Healey to Announce Initiatives to Make It Easier, More Affordable to Become a Homeowner

Boston — In her third State of the Commonwealth Address tonight, Governor Maura Healey announced that she is expanding down payment assistance and lowering mortgage rates for first-time homebuyers to make it easier and more affordable for middle-class families to become homeowners in Massachusetts. 

“We have to be a state where teachers, nurses, and recent grads can afford to actually live,” said Governor Healey. “The problem is we haven’t been building homes since the '90s. That’s why prices and rents are so high. There aren’t enough homes to go around. So here’s the plan: build more and build faster.” 

Governor Healey is investing $25 million to expand homebuyer assistance through MassHousing to help 1,000 more middle-income households purchase a first home over the next year, nearly double the number of families who were served last year. The Governor will also commit additional resources to lower mortgage rates for all eligible residents purchasing their first home with a MassHousing mortgage by 0.55% — providing new homebuyers with immediate relief and saving the average homebuyer more than $42,000 over the lifetime of their mortgage.

The down payment assistance program offers loans of up to $25,000 to first-time homebuyers across Massachusetts and already has a successful track record. Over the past three years, MassHousing has provided Massachusetts residents with nearly $1.9 billion in mortgage funding, helping more than 5,500 households purchase a home.

In Holyoke, Alexis and Delyann LaSanta recently purchased their first home for themselves and their three children after working for eight years to move from renting to homeownership. With a MassHousing first mortgage and $25,000 in down payment assistance, the family bought a four-bedroom home at South Holyoke Homes, a new homeownership community built by the Holyoke Housing Authority with support from MassHousing. “We’re so happy. We are still a little starstruck that we are in here,” said Alexis LaSanta.

Since taking office, Governor Healey has focused on increasing housing production and lowering costs. To build more homes, she has taken action to speed up the permitting process, turn state land into thousands of new homes, convert downtown commercial space into apartments, create a first-in-the-nation fund to finance mixed-income development in a time of high interest rates, and legalize Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). This year, her administration will be offering low-cost financing and free designs for anyone who wants to add an ADU to their home. To help people afford their mortgages and rents right now, she banned mandatory renter-paid broker fees, gave seniors up to $2,800 a year to help with housing costs, and expanded home inspection protections.  

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