2023 Beacon Hill Apartment Rental Market Report

The apartment rental market in Beacon Hill Boston is seeing the highest rent prices on record in 2023.  Beacon Hill’s average rent price surpassed its previous all-time high in February of this year, and has since been climbing to new highs each month.  Median days on market for Beacon Hill apartments are down by -54.55% since last year while average rent is up by +9.97% over the same time span, suggesting demand for rentals in this historic neighborhood is higher than it has been in years past.

Apartment Vacancies Near Zero in Beacon Hill

The real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) in Beacon Hill is currently 0.14%, down by -60% compared to last May.  The vacancy rate has been hovering close to the zero mark for most of the last year and a half, suggesting that demand is even higher now than prior to the pandemic.  Even more interesting is that Beacon Hill did not see the typical spike in RTVR in September of last year as it has seen in years prior.  In fact, RTVR hit an all-time low in Beacon Hill during November of 2022 when it bottomed out at 0.07%.

Beacon Hill Apartment Availability Up Slightly

The real-time availability rate (RTAR) in Beacon Hill is currently 4.34%.  That figure is actually up +5.08% year-over-year despite vacancies being so low.  Similar to the vacancy rate, RTAR hit an all-time record low in October of 2022 when it bottomed out at 0.14% in Beacon Hill.  Apartment availability did peak to 6.74% late last month, which was +30.12% higher than the seasonal peak of 2022 (5.18%). 

Median Days on Market Cut In Half For Apartments in Beacon Hill

Despite the slight increase in apartment supply compared to last year, those apartments that do become available are spending much less time on the market than they were a year ago.  The most recent Beacon Hill rental data shows that median days on market for apartments is 15 days, down from 33 days in May of last year.  That equates to a -54.55% decrease in median days on market year-over-year.

Record High Rents In Beacon Hill

The current average rent price for non-luxury apartments in Beacon Hill is $3,353.  That average is up +9.97% year-over-year and has been trending upward since October 2021.  Average rent price is currently at an all-time high in Beacon Hill, much like it is in most of Boston’s rental markets.  Beacon Hill’s average rent price is $334 higher than that of Boston apartments, and it currently ranks as the 9th most expensive neighborhood in Boston to rent an apartment.

Beacon Hill Rental Market Forecast 2023

Based on current rental supply metrics, it’s safe to assume that Beacon Hill’s average rent price will continue to climb as we enter the summer leasing rush.  Prices may level off in the final quarter of this year, but are unlikely to fall by any significant margins unless we see a big hit to the local economy.  So far that has not been the case in 2023, but that could change if we see a large wave of corporate layoffs.

The rental supply issue will not be changing anytime soon in Beacon Hill.  This historic neighborhood is small and dense, leaving little room for development and added inventory.  As demand increases, there will be little to no additional supply to offset demand growth in Beacon Hill.  That means prices will continue to rise so long as rental demand continues to increase in Beacon Hill.  We will continue to cover these trends as they develop.