posted at 1/25/2013
Boston is the fifth-most-expensive rental market in the country, just behind Fairfield County in Connecticut, Westchester County in New York, San Francisco, and New York City, according to Reis.
Liked other states in the Untied States, the foreclosure crisis forced many Massachusetts homeowners into apartments, while many young people who normally would purchase homes can’t get financing or are concerned home prices will continue to slide. At the same time, Boston’s population of graduate students is growing. New construction, drastically limited by zoning laws and scarcity of buildable land, has failed to keep up with the area’s growing demand for residential rentals. These factors caused high housing rents and low vacancy rates for the region.
According to survey data from Axiometrics and PPR, as reported by the Boston Business Journal, the Boston area’s vacancy rate within larger multifamily apartment buildings fell to 4.3% in 2012, causing average apartment rents to rise by 9.3 percent to $1,904 per month per unit.
Below is the apartment rental market statistical reported delivered by RentalBeast.com
| Boston Neighborhoods | Average Rental Price in 2011(US$) | Average Rental Price in 2012(US$) | YoY % Increase / Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston – Northeastern Univ. | $ 1,960 | $ 2,642 | 34.80% |
| Boston – Theatre District | $ 1,674 | $ 2,235 | 33.51% |
| Boston – Uphams Corner | $ 1,967 | $ 2,600 | 32.18% |
| Boston – Prudential Area | $ 2,677 | $ 3,260 | 21.78% |
| Boston – Roslindale | $ 1,451 | $ 1,765 | 21.64% |
| Boston – Hyde Park | $ 1,311 | $ 1,579 | 20.44% |
| Boston – West Roxbury | $ 1,361 | $ 1,622 | 19.18% |
| Boston – Waterfront | $ 2,766 | $ 3,268 | 18.15% |
| Boston – Beacon Hill | $ 1,754 | $ 2,044 | 16.53% |
| Boston – East Boston | $ 1,252 | $ 1,449 | 15.73% |
| Boston – Kenmore Square | $ 2,096 | $ 2,385 | 13.79% |
| Boston – South End | $ 2,316 | $ 2,615 | 12.91% |
| Boston – Longwood | $ 1,929 | $ 2,099 | 8.81% |
| Boston – North End | $ 2,594 | $ 2,821 | 8.75% |
| Boston – Umass | $ 1,927 | $ 2,094 | 8.67% |
| Boston – Roxbury | $ 1,565 | $ 1,656 | 5.81% |
| Boston – Back Bay | $ 2,354 | $ 2,476 | 5.18% |
| Boston – Symphony | $ 1,908 | $ 1,937 | 1.52% |
| Boston – Fenway | $ 1,991 | $ 1,994 | 0.15% |
| Boston – South Boston | $ 2,019 | $ 2,019 | 0% |
| Boston – Financial District | $ 3,796 | $ 3,773 | -0.61% |
| Boston – West End | $ 2,954 | $ 2,817 | –4.64% |
| Boston – Mission Hill | $ 2,245 | $ 1,894 | –15.63% |