East Boston’s apartment rental market has shown impressive growth over the past five years. Eastie has historically been one of the more affordable rental markets in the Boston metro area. Perhaps this has attracted many budget conscious renters looking for relief from the soaring rent prices in the downtown neighborhoods. Real-time availability rates for East Boston apartments have remained below Boston’s overall RTAR since mid-2021, which is a departure from the historical norms we’ve recorded prior to COVID. Here are the trends affecting East Boston’s apartment rental market in 2024.
Apartment Supply Still Tight In East Boston
The real-time availability rate for apartments in East Boston currently sits at 4.49%. This marks a +40.31% increase from 2023, a year that marked the lowest apartment availability on record throughout all of Boston. East Boston’s RTAR peaked at 4.76% in early April, which is a sharp -36.53% drop in seasonal availability when compared to 2019, when Eastie’s RTAR peaked at 7.5%. It appears that rental demand is as high as it’s ever been in East Boston.
The real-time vacancy rate for East Boston is currently 0.65%, up +91.18% from a year ago. Despite the large percentage increase, the vacancy rate is still remarkably low by historical standards and provides more evidence that apartment demand is high in Eastie. Vacancies typically spike to around the 2-3% level in September in East Boston, but last year the vacancy rate peaked at a mere 1.29% in September and has remained below the 1% level since.
According to our most recent apartment data for East Boston, the median days on market for an available apartment in Eastie is 22 days. So while apartment supply has loosened slightly in the past year, apartment demand is still very high. This is driving up rent prices in East Boston considerably.
Rent Prices At Record Highs In East Boston
The current average rent price in East Boston is $3,004, which is an all-time record high. That marks a +7.09% increase year-over-year and a +17.30% increase compared to two years ago. Despite the sharp increase, rent prices are 8.05% more affordable in East Boston than Boston as a whole. That is especially true for 1 bedroom, 3 bedroom, and 4 bedroom apartments, where rent prices are 15%-20% lower in East Boston compared to all of Boston.
East Boston Apartment Rental Market Predictions 2024
With rent prices surging to new record highs all around Boston, look for East Boston to remain attractive to local renters in 2024. Look for East Boston’s rent price growth to continue to outpace the city overall as demand remains high throughout the busy rental eason.
While apartment supply is currently very low in East Boston, there may be relief coming soon. As of late April, the first units of the massive Suffolk Downs development hit the market. Residents can begin moving in as early as June, and the 10,000 unit mega-development will provide an injection of much needed new rental units to meet rising housing demands.
As more units become available over the next year, it could certainly have an impact on East Boston’s rental market as well as Boston as a whole. Look for apartment supply to continue to improve in this neighborhood, hopefully keeping rent prices more affordable here in the long run. We will continue to monitor these trends as they develop.
Demetrios Salpoglou
Published May 16, 2024
Demetrios has pulled together the largest apartment leasing team in the Greater Boston Area and is responsible for procuring more apartment rentals than anyone in New England – with over 130k people finding their housing through his services. Demetrios is an avid real estate developer, peak performance trainer, educator, guest lecturer and motivational speaker.
