Beacon Hill’s apartment rental market is much more accessible in 2024 than it was a year ago. As we approach the height of seasonal demand, apartment availability is up +40.00% year-over-year in what appears to be a return to conventional market behavior. As apartment supply has loosened up, rent prices have leveled off in Beacon Hill following a 2 year span of rapid growth and record high pricing. Here are the trends affecting the apartment rental market in Beacon Hill this year.
Increase in Beacon Hill Apartment Inventory
The current real-time availability rate (RTAR) for Beacon Hill apartments is 2.59%. That figure is up +40.00% since mid-July last year and has closely followed its pre pandemic trend line. In mid-July 2019, RTAR sat at 2.55% after peaking at 6.88% in April. This April, Beacon Hill’s RTAR peaked at 6.96%. So it appears that seasonal demand trends have returned to normal following a volatile 3 year period marked by a global pandemic and a historic apartment supply shortage.
The current real-time vacancy rate in Beacon Hill is 0.61%. While that figure is low, it marks a +190.48% increase compared to mid-July 2023, when the supply of rental units was at a historic low. On June 1, Beacon Hill’s RTVR briefly surpassed the 1% level for the first time since October 2021 when the market was recovering from a record supply glut caused by the COVID. Since then, Beacon Hill’s rental market has endured a historic shortage of vacant inventory.
According to our most recent apartment data for Beacon Hill, the current median days on market of an apartment for rent in Beacon Hill is 18 days, which is down -15 days compared to a year ago. This shows that demand is still healthy in Beacon Hill, which has historically been one of Boston’s most sought after rental markets. Still, more apartments are hitting the market in 2024 compared to last summer, which is keeping rent prices from spiking.
Average Rent Prices in Beacon Hill
The current average rent price in Beacon Hill Boston is $3,084. That figure is actually down -0.58% month-over-month and up +2.77% year-over-year. That is a welcome departure from the previous 2 years, over which time period Beacon Hill’s average rent price increased by a shocking +17.35%. Yearly rent growth of 2-3% is a much healthier growth rate than what we were seeing prior.
Beacon Hill’s average rent price is actually $181 lower than the average rent price for Boston apartments, but that is misleading at face value. Beacon Hill has many more smaller apartment units compared to most city neighborhoods. Pound-for-pound, Beacon Hill has a higher rent price than Boston for all size apartments from studios up to 4 bedrooms.
2024 Beacon Hill Apartment Rental Forecast
Look for rent prices to stay at current levels or possibly fall in Beacon Hill even as we quickly approach the pivotal 9/1 leasing date. Apartment supply absorption constriction is occurring at a much slower pace than it did in 2023, so we are no longer in a market where renters are at a disadvantage. Rent prices will likely start to trend downwards in the final quarter of 2024, especially if there is leftover inventory that wasn’t rented out on 9/1.
We expect RTAR to bottom out somewhere in the 1.25% range on September 1. We also expect the vacancy rate to spike above the 1% level in September as it has done in the years prior to COVID. This is what we consider a normal and healthy market in Beacon Hill, and barring any economic catastrophes, it looks like we’re heading back to that. We will continue to monitor these trends as they develop on Bostonpads.com.
Demetrios Salpoglou
Published July 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.
