Brookline, one of Boston’s premier suburbs, has experienced erratic changes to its apartment rental market. These shifts have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has been sweeping across the world. For many property investors, this is an unprecedented period of item that they have never experienced before. In this article, we are going to be analyzing Brookline apartments with a particular focus on the average rent prices in Brookline, MA.
Brookline Apartment Average Rent Prices drop by 7.66%
In total, in the suburbs of Boston, eleven out of nineteen neighborhoods experienced a drop in average rent prices compared to the previous year. The suburb of Brookline happened to experienced the 3rd biggest drop in rent out of all of areas at -7.66%. Brookline saw major decreases in 1 bedroom apartments (-10.66% YOY) and also 2 bedroom apartments (-9.03% YOY).
Out of all sized apartment units in Brookline, only Studios experienced an increase compared to 2020, although pretty minor at just +0.35% YOY. Furthermore, 3 Bedroom Brookline apartments saw a YOY drop of -3.30%. Additionally, 4 Bedroom and 5 Bedroom apartments saw a YOY change of -5.85% and -5.23% respectively.
In spite of these drops, Brookline remains one of the most expensive suburbs to rent an apartment. The Brookline area has the second-highest average rent price in Boston’s immediate suburbs at $2,794. The neighborhood with the highest average rent was Cambridge's $2,894 average rent ask. Therefore the neighborhood of Brookline was much more expensive than neighborhoods with similar drops in rent year-on-year.
For example, Waltham had a YOY change in average rent of -7.33%, yet its average rent was just $2,081 . However, the average rent prices in Brookline were more volatile than in Cambridge which had a higher rent price yet only experienced a drop of -6.67%.
In the final part of this analysis of the average rent prices in Brookline, MA, we are going to be comparing the neighborhood with other neighborhoods that had an equivalent change in YOY rent figures:
1. Brookline apartments
Average Rent: $2,794
Average Change in Rent: -7.66%
2. Waltham apartments
Average Rent: $2,081
Average Change in Rent: -7.33%
3. Cambridge apartments
Average Rent: $2,894
Average Change in Rent: -6.67%
4. Revere apartments
Average Rent: $2,150
YOY Change in Rent: -5.03%
5. Everett apartments
Average Rent: $2,288
YOY Change in Rent: -5.34%
6. Somerville apartments
Average Rent: $2,628
YOY Change in Rent: -4.49%
Brookline Has Seen Big Increases in Apartment Vacancies
The Real-time Availability Rate (RTAR) in Boston’s suburbs is 7.34% while the Real-time Vacancy Rate (RTVR) is 2.85%. There were also major differences between the City of Boston compared to the metropolitan neighborhoods of the city. For example in the City of Boston, the RTAR 12.44% while the RTVR is 3.72%, indicating that the supply concerns affected the City neighborhoods more than the suburbs
This trend has been driven by remote learning and the subsequent effect on the city’s student population. It’s also the market force behind the drops in average rent prices. In the Boston suburbs, the changes in RTAR were pretty similar, in Brookline the YOY RTAR change was +93.05% while in Newton it was +78.87%, and in Cambridge, it was +45.81%