In most American cities, parking is an amenity. In Boston it is a distinct asset class, frequently with its own deed and its own assessed value, and it is the single most mispriced item in the local market.

Here is how to tell what you are actually buying.

The four things called "parking," ranked by what they are worth

Deeded space. Real property. Often carries its own deed and assessed value, transfers with the sale, and in some buildings can be sold or leased separately from the unit. This is the one with value.

Assigned space. A common element the association has allocated to your unit under its rules. Usually transfers — but the association's documents govern it, and rules can be amended. Read them.

Rented space. A monthly contract, frequently with a neighbor or a nearby garage. It can end, and it usually does, at the worst time.

Resident permit. Not a space. Permission to look for one on the street.

All four are described identically in listings and casual conversation. In the South End or on Beacon Hill, the gap between the first and the last can be a six-figure difference in value.

Ask which one, and get the answer in the documents rather than at the showing.

Why automated valuations get this wrong

Models mishandle parking consistently, because it is often recorded as a separate item and sometimes carries a separate deed.

That produces error in both directions. If your unit has a deeded space the model never counted, the estimate is low by a meaningful amount. If the model assumed parking because comparable units in the neighborhood have it and yours does not, the estimate is high.

Either way you cannot tell which, and the error is not small. This is one of the specific reasons a Boston automated estimate should not be the basis of a decision.

Tandem parking is a different asset

Tandem means two cars in a line. If both spaces are yours and you own two cars, tandem is fine and often a bargain.

If you share a tandem arrangement with another unit, you are coordinating your departures with a neighbor for as long as you own the property. Verbal parking agreements between units are one of the most reliable sources of ongoing friction in Boston condominiums.

Get the arrangement in writing before you close. Who parks where, who moves for whom, what happens when one owner sells.

The policy change that probably raises your space's value

In April 2026, Boston City Councilors filed a 35-page text amendment that would eliminate off-street parking minimums for all new residential construction across all 23 neighborhoods. A public hearing followed in June. Boston has had minimums since the 1950s and has never attempted citywide removal; five years ago the Council removed them for affordable housing only.

Cambridge eliminated all residential parking minimums in 2022 and Somerville followed in 2024. In both, car ownership and on-street conditions remained stable.

Most people read this as bad news for parking values. The logic runs the other way: if new buildings build less parking, existing deeded spaces become scarcer relative to households. Scarcity in fixed supply with steady demand does not push prices down.

The more useful effect is on spreads. Units in new buildings without parking should price below comparable units with it, and that widening gap is where the opportunity sits — on both sides of the trade.

The proposal is not decided. It runs through the Council's planning committee, a full Council vote, then the BPDA and the Zoning Commission, and the Wu administration has opposed it.

Winter is part of what parking means here

Space savers are legal only during a declared snow emergency and for 48 hours after it ends; after that Public Works can collect and discard them. They are banned at all times in the South End and Bay Village — no snow emergency exception.

And when the city declares an emergency, every vehicle parked on a posted snow emergency artery is towed. The city offers discounted and free garage parking to residents with a sticker, opening two hours before the declaration, with vehicles required out within two hours of the ban lifting or standard rates apply.

There is also the part the city does not print: drivers who have taken a saved space — including well after the 48 hours expired and the saver became legally meaningless — have had cars threatened and vandalized. The rule is on your side. Your neighbor may not be.

A property with no off-street parking on a posted artery means relocating your car on short notice several times a winter. Price that.

For sellers

If you own a deeded space, do not let it disappear into the listing price. Know its separate assessed value. Market it as what it is. In the right neighborhood it is the feature that separates your unit from the three others a buyer is seeing that Sunday.

In some buildings, a space can be sold separately from the unit. If your buyer pool does not need parking and another owner in the building does, that is worth exploring before you list.

The questions

1. Deeded, assigned, rented, or permit?
2. If deeded — is there a separate deed and a separate assessed value?
3. If assigned — what do the condo documents say, and can the rule be changed?
4. Tandem? With whom, and under what written agreement?
5. Is the street a posted snow emergency artery?
6. What does a space rent for in this building, and what have spaces sold for?

Send me the address and I will tell you what kind of parking it actually has, what that is worth on that block, and whether the asking price reflects it.

Chris Remmes, Managing Broker, Remmes & Co. [email protected] | 617-398-0015