2025 Medford Apartment Rental Market Report

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The apartment rental market in Medford, MA has loosened up for renters in 2025 thus far. Apartment availability peaked to 4.5% in early February which marked a +22.28% increase in availability compared to 2024’s apex. Vacancies have also softened compared to last year, presenting a more renter-friendly market in Medford than we’ve seen in recent years. Here are the trends impacting Medford’s apartment rental market in 2025.

Medford Apartment Supply Metrics

The current real-time availability rate (RTAR) for Medford apartments is 2.70%. That figure is up +9.76% year-over-year and up +59.76% over a 2-year span.  Medford’s apartment rental market is unique in that it typically has two seasonal peaks due to Tufts’ unique apartment leasing cycle.  The broader Medford apartment market peaks in late winter through early spring for September rentals and ascends again in September with June 1 rentals which are typical in Tuft’s off-campus housing markets.  Medford’s RTAR hit 4.5% in early February, the highest availability rate recorded since September 2021, and we expect September’s RTAR to surge above 4% as rental inventory in close proximity to Tuft’s hits the market.  We will cover this unique leasing pattern in more detail in our upcoming 2025 Tufts Apartment Rental Market Report.

The current real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) in Medford, MA is 0.85%. That figure is up +136.11% year-over-year and up +672.73% compared to July 2023. This year marked the first time since 2021 where Medford’s vacancy rate went above 1% in the month of June. Vacancies have remained exceptionally low in Medford over the past 4 years illustrating a dire shortage of rental units. While a +672.73% increase in vacancies over a 2 year period would normally signal a demand shortage, the current RTVR is healthy and it’s more a function of the housing shortage we’ve endured since the pandemic recovery. Generally speaking, we see little value into a deep dive on any major vacancy fluctuation until the 2% barrier is breached for a considerable length of time. Meaningful price reductions across numerous units normally only occurs on vacant apartments when the RTVR moves north of 3% and units have stayed on the market for a long period of time. Currently, neither is the case in Medford nor do we see that changing anytime soon.

According to our real-time Medford apartment data, the median days on market for a rental unit is 55 days.  That figure is well above the median days on market in Boston (31 days), but meaningful inventory in Medford typically hits the market earlier than what we see in Boston.  Based on supply absorption, we don’t see this as a demand issue but a function of timing and when apartments are becoming available.

Average Rent Prices in Medford, MA

The current average rent price in Medford is $3,585.  That figure is up +4.95% year-over-year and up +9.47% compared to 2 years ago.  While the average rent price in Medford appears to be $287 more expensive than the average rent price for Boston apartments ($3,298), it doesn’t tell the full story.  Medford’s rental market consists of a larger percentage of bigger unit sizes (3-5 bedrooms) than Boston’s rental market, which inflates the average rent price.  A side-by-side comparison of each unit size shows that Medford is typically 20-30% more affordable than Boston for smaller units and 10% more affordable for larger units like 4 and 5 bedroom apartments.

Medford 1 bedroom apartments saw the biggest average rent increase year-over-year (+4.30%).  Medford 3 bedroom, 4 bedroom, and 5 bedroom apartments rose by smaller margins since last July (+2.10%, +2.26%, and +1.26% respectively).  Average rent prices for Medford studio apartments and 2 bedrooms actually dropped by -2.19% and -5.27% respectively.

Medford Apartment Rental Market Forecast

Forecasting Medford’s apartment rental market at this time of year may be premature as there is still a large amount of market activity still in store when the Tufts rental market heats up in the fall. However, based on the data we’ve recorded thus far in 2025, we expect similar average rent growth by the end of 2025 that we’ve recorded over the past 2 years which would be +3-5%. Percentagewise, the rent pricing in Medford could go a little bit higher than other parts of Greater Boston because their rent prices are cheaper than most in surrounding areas. People still flock to value based apartments and many will choose cheaper rent as the main driving factor in snatching an apartment.

It will be interesting to see how RTAR behaves in September this year in Medford as the Tuft’s area market becomes active. We do expect availability to increase year-over-year as it did in last year, but the extent of which is still uncertain. Recently, there has been a lot of shake up in the rental market near universities that have been heavily weighted in favoring international students. As mentioned in several of our other reports, we still seeing a lot of disruption to leasing cycles, fees paid and prices drop in a couple key areas of Boston. We will release a separate market report covering the Tufts University area housing market to see if the international student leasing disruption has any legs in Medford. As always, you can check out all our apartment leasing data and trends in more detail right here on bostonpads.com.