Rent price growth for larger units outpaced those of smaller apartment sizes in 2024. The average rent price for studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedrooms rose by +3.00%, +3.57%, and +2.51% respectively, and all of these have been trending flat or slightly down over the last 90 days. The average rent price for 4 bedroom and 5 bedroom apartments are up +6.23% and +5.44% respectively over the last 12 months. This shows that demand for larger apartments is outpacing that of smaller apartments, which makes sense considering the rent price growth we’ve seen over the past few years. This has effectively incentivized renters to seek out roommates and larger apartments in order to reduce housing costs by splitting rent and utilities. We fully expect this trend to continue especially as utility costs continue to rise.
Trends Affecting Boston’s Apartment Rental Market
Elimination of Renter-Paid Broker Fees
Governor Healey recently announced plans to eliminate renter-paid broker fees in the City of Boston. The debate picked up after NYC adopted similar legislation in December and it looks like Boston may follow suit. We want to state unequivocally that enacting such legislation will have an adverse impact on the rental market. It is a totally misguided and “bait and switch” distraction tactic to the real broader problem of housing affordability. Passing the broker fee on to the landlord will inevitably cause rent prices to increase as landlords will seek to offset this cost. If not, the quality of our rental supply will denigrate as property owners will have less revenue to invest back into their properties. Landlords in Boston are already facing a whole host of price increases due to the inflation that has spread throughout the entire economy. Forcing the landlords to pay the fee could also negatively impact real estate agents and cause a loss of jobs. This change could cause more people to leave our state and not spend money locally….