February 15, 2023 - By Tom Palmer
BOSTON - Boston Realty Advisors, the largest Boston-based independent real estate brokerage, and the associated residential sales platform Advisors Living achieved record-breaking sales, leasing and real estate industry advisory growth for the 2022 calendar year, executives said today.
Advisors Living sales of single-family homes and condominiums were up 356 percent over 2021, with a total of 1,354 sales worth $1.4 billion, and the residential brokerage added 114 residential agents during the year, bringing the Advisors Living number of agents to 174.
Advisors Living opened multiple new offices in the Greater Boston area, now serving home buyers and sellers in a total of 14 locations.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the best, most productive agents in the business,” said Advisors Living President and CEO Merit McIntyre, a Partner with Jason S. Weissman, Founder and Senior Partner, and Wil Catlin, Managing Director and Senior Partner of Boston Realty Advisors. “If you divide out agents into the numbers, we have the highest agent productivity in the state.”
Every division in the company experienced growth last year. Boston Realty Advisors completed 165 commercial leases during the year, a 57 percent increase over 2021, for a company record total of 465,218 square feet.
“Last year was ultimately a transformational year for our company,” said Jason S. Weissman, Founder and Senior Partner of Boston Realty Advisors. “We are building a strong infrastructure for future continued growth. In spite of certain economic headwinds facing us in 2023, we are very confident we are going to outperform general market conditions.”
Commercial leases in 2022 included 260,000 square feet of retail space among a total of 68 transactions.
“The year 2022 was a record for retail leasing activity in Boston, and we were right at the forefront of it,” said Whitney Gallivan, Managing Director and Partner of Boston Realty Advisors. “I feel fortunate that my team is able to contribute to the strength of our city and bring in fresh and exciting retailers and work on dynamic projects that will forever impact the retail landscape of Boston.”
Boston Realty Advisors‘ Capital Market sales were up 10 percent in 2022, and the property management business – a particular new area of growth for the company more than doubled.
“Besides exponentially strengthening the Advisors Living residential sales force,“ said Managing Director and Senior Partner Catlin, “the company added finance and operations staff, ending the year with more than 230 team members throughout all divisions.“
Last month Advisors Living added a Newton office, its 14th location in Greater Boston. Previous office openings, in addition to Advisors Living’s headquarters in the Back Bay, were in Arlington, Weston, Sudbury, Wellesley, Canton, Andover, Gloucester, Sherborn, Merrimac, and Cape Elizabeth, ME, adding to its other existing Nantucket and Boston Waterfront locations. More new offices are planned.
In the residential leasing division, Advisors Living leased 208 residential units in 2022, compared with 190 units in 2021, for a 17 percent increase in revenue.
The independent commercial real estate firm Boston Realty Advisors and its associated residential sales brand, Advisors Living, were founded by Weissman in 2001. Catlin joined in 2001 as Senior Partner.
The company’s brokerage and consulting services include commercial sales and leasing, retail leasing, home sales, new development marketing and sales, commercial property and residential property management, and capital markets and investment sales.
The divisions have grown dramatically, as upper management has engaged other talented and experienced executives, including Advisors Living President and CEO McIntyre; Susan Tsantes, who is now Senior Vice President Managing Broker, and Chief Financial Officer Bill McIntyre (no relation).
Beyond the record company statistics of the year, Catlin worked with Northeastern University to establish a vibrant and active internship program with the Northeastern Real Estate Club, involving a number of students who obtain real-time experience with Boston Realty Advisors professionals.
Through BRA’s Doing Well by Doing Good Program, the company has by the end of 2022 contributed to more than 100 charitable and philanthropic organizations, including the Greater Boston Food Bank, Heading Home, Boston Children’s Hospital, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Cam Neely Foundation, LoveLane and the MSPCA.
