Report: Average Boston Rents Crack $2,000 per Month
We can finally put aside all the 2015 speculation about Boston rents declining or finally hitting a plateau.
A new report from real estate data firm Reis, Inc. found the average rent in Boston has topped $2,000 for the first time, pushing the city into an exclusive real estate club in the United States. Only San Francisco, New York, and Silicon Valley are more expensive for renters than Boston.
The average rental apartment price in Boston increased 5.7 percent to $2,009, compared to a 4.6 percent increase in the rest of the United States, where the average apartment rental is $1,180 per month.
Numerous higher end apartment units have come on the Greater Boston market in the last year, but that does not appear to have addressed the sky-high demand for middle of the road rental units.
Other recent reports on the Boston real estate market have pegged Boston rents above the $2,000 rate as recently as February 2015. In October, a report from Trulia found the average one-bedroom rent in Boston is $2,300 a month. The difference in this report from Reis is that it incorporates the Greater Boston region, not just Boston proper. Another October review of pricing data by Rent Jungle found average rents in Boston slightly lower, at $2,285 a month.
The Boston Foundation’s review of the 2014 rental prices found the average rent in Boston is somewhere between $1,957 and $1,857 per month, so this new report from Reis is not that out of whack with the overall upward trajectory of Boston housing costs.
