It’s been well documented that rent prices have been falling in Boston. Rent prices are down 5-6% all across the city year over year and it doesn’t appear that we’ve hit bottom just yet. Local universities are still providing remote learning which has caused a record surge in vacancies around Boston, and Downtown still has a vacancy rate over 20%.
This list breaks down the current rent prices in Boston for all size units.
Studio Apartments- $1721
1 Bedroom Apartments - $2,076
2 Bedroom Apartments - $2,530
3 Bedroom Apartments - $3,009
4 Bedroom Apartments - $3,584
These rent prices certainly aren’t cheap compared to any city, but they are down quite significantly year over year. Them most expensive areas to rent an apartment hasn’t changed in Boston. The neighborhoods of Back Bay, South End, Downtown and North End are still the most expensive place to rent an apartment:
Back Bay Apartments Average Rent: $3,297
South End Apartments Average Rent: $3,249
Downtown Apartments Average Rent: $3,201
North End Apartments Average Rent: $3,130
These areas close to downtown are also leading the pack in terms of apartment vacancies. Not surprisingly, rent prices have fallen in these neighborhoods much more than in other parts of the city.
Back Bay Average Rent Change -5.58%
Rank: 6th highest YOY price decline
South End Average Rent Change -8.81%
Rank: 2nd highest YOY price decline
North End Average Rent Change -6.51%
Rank: 5th highest YOY price decline
Downtown Average Rent Change -7.38%
Rank: 4rd highest YOY price decline
Other notable neighborhoods on the rent price free fall list in include Bay Village (-15.55%), West End (7.78%), and Beacon Hill (-7.3%). The fact that the market hasn’t responded suggests that there still needs to be some price corrections before they begin to level.
While prices are dropping in the areas close to downtown, there are still a significant group of neighborhoods where prices have gone up year over year. Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale, and East Boston have all netted positive increases year over year for average rent price.
This confirms what we all suspected, demand for housing in the dense city centers are falling flat while demand is holding up well in the outer areas of the city.
We expect rent prices to continue to fall in the short term, flattening out around March to April. If the tides of the pandemic are turned like we think it will, universities should be back to near capacity for the fall semester, which will help increase demand for housing in the areas of Fenway, Back Bay, South End, and Mission Hill. This added demand should flatten pricing towards summer, but the prices near Downtown will have to continue to fall in order meet the market.