2023 Charlestown Apartment Rental Market Report

The apartment rental market in Charlestown Boston will present challenges to renters in 2023. The most recent rental data for Charlestown shows that vacancies are currently at a historic low while apartment availability is down by ~25% compared to a year ago. Renters looking for apartments in Charlestown will find fewer options than in years past, much like what renters are experiencing throughout Greater Boston. Here are the main trends driving Charlestown’s rental market in 2023.

Record Low Apartment Inventory in Charlestown

The current real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) for Charlestown apartments is 0.15%. That is the lowest RTVR on record, and amazingly that figure has hovered at that level for the better part of the past 9 months. Vacancy rates have typically always been lower in Charlestown compared to the rest of Boston, but 0.15% is unprecedented in this neighborhood.

Charlestown’s real-time availability rate (RTAR) is currently at 1.31%. That marks a 25.14% drop in apartment availability year-over-year. It’s also the lowest apartment availability on record for mid- April in Charlestown. Historically, RTAR peaks at around 2% in Charlestown in late April, but it appears like that figure may have already peaked for 2023.

With Charlestown’s apartment supply at record lows, it would be reasonable to assume that rent prices have surpassed all-time highs like they have in most of metro Boston’s neighborhoods. You would be surprised to hear that that is not the case in Charlestown.

Charlestown Average Rent Prices

Charlestown’s current average rent price is $2,965, which marks a +10.30% increase compared to a year ago. Despite average rent surging by double digits over the past year, the current average rent price in Charlestown is still $58 short of its all time high of $3,023 set in September 2020.

With inventory as low as it is in Charlestown, it’s hard to see a scenario where rent prices fall in 2023. That may seem counterintuitive considering the current state of the national economy. While it’s true that rent prices are falling in many of the nation’s largest markets, that is just not the case in Charlestown, and all of Greater Boston for that matter.

The main lever keeping rent prices high is the supply issue. There are just not enough apartments to meet renter demand in Boston. This is why Charlestown’s vacancy rate is close to the 0% mark and Boston’s average rent price is climbing higher by the week. Until City Hall gets serious about the housing shortage, these supply issues will continue to put Boston’s renter at a disadvantage. Last year, Boston saw a 7 year low in new housing units built. That means the housing shortage isn’t going away until the city paves a path for developers and landlords to create additional units.

Until that happens, look for rent prices to continue to rise in the short term. We may not see double digit growth in Charlestown’s average rent price this year like we did in 2022, but it will still rise nonetheless. We will continue to monitor these rental market trends as they develop.