How the Boston Rental Market Fared for the Beginning of Fall 2017

Since the start of Fall in August this year, Boston remains to be one of the most expensive cities in the US for renting an apartment. According to real estate site, Zumper, Boston is the fifth most expensive city for one bedroom units and is the sixth most expensive for renting a two bedroom unit.

According to the site, the median rent for one bedroom apartments in the city is $2,200 as of August 2017. The price is lower than the median rent in Washington, DC but is higher than rents in Los Angeles. San Francisco is still the most expensive when it comes to one bedroom rents.

Meanwhile, the median rent for two-bedroom apartments in Boston is $2,600 for the same period. It makes Boston lower than San Francisco, New York, San Jose, and now, Los Angeles. Although still pricy for some, apartment hunters have something to be happy about, especially those looking for one bedroom apartments. The median rent has actually decreased to 0.9%. On the other hand, two bedroom units went up to four percent.

Is the Real Estate Market Declining?

When the year opened, the median rent for a one bedroom apartment went down to almost six percent in Greater Boston. As for the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment, it was also down to 2.3% in comparison to the same period in 2016, Although the year over year declines seem to be regular now, the city of Boston is still one of the most expensive to rent an apartment, according to Zumper.

Zumper tracks both available and vacant apartments, which makes their numbers reliable in measuring the rental market, especially at the beginning of the year and month. Their monthly rent reports include aggregating data from more than one million listings, which would help them calculate the average asking rent prices. They do this for the top 100 cities based on population. They also study 300 more cities found in the major metro areas.

Zumper also includes rental data from new constructions. However, they exclude the ones that are currently occupied or unavailable. As for their most current data, they mentioned that the plateauing prices remained in the top 10 most expensive cities, including Boston. With the end of the summer, the rents across the country have seemed to stabilize.

Nationwide, the rent index presented $1,183 for one bedroom median rent and $1,402 for two bedroom median rent.

Priciest Areas

As of the first of September this year, Zumper has also made an analysis and concluded that Cambridge, Boston, and Brookline were three of the most expensive places in the Boston area for renting an apartment. It applies to both one and two bedroom units.

According to the data gathered by the site, the median rent for one-bedroom units in Cambridge was $2,38o each month. Meanwhile, Brookline charged $2,300, while Boston’s rate was $2.200 monthly. For two bedroom apartments, the order remained the same. The most expensive rents were in Cambridge, which averaged $2,930. Brookline was second with $2,800 and Boston charged $2,600 for two bedroom units.

Where to Find Affordable Apartments in Boston

As for those who are planning to hunt a much cheaper apartment in the Boston area, Zumper has listed the towns and cities that are relatively far from the city center, including Worcester, Lawrence, and Brockton.

However, the problem with these apartments is that they do not guarantee that the rents would remain the same. It is possible for them to keep changing over the next few months. For instance, the median rent for one-bedroom units in Haverhill increased month over month as well as year over year, unlike those that are already expensive.

Recently, Dorchester and Roslindale were considered the fastest growing communities for one bedroom apartment rentals. Zumper analyzed the numbers from available listings and discovered that these two areas have their median rents increasing from June to July. As for home prices, the Boston area remains pricey, but some of the available listings are softening as the fall season approaches. It could signal that the Boston area could become a buyer’s market during this time of the year.