The apartment rental market in Brighton, MA has loosened up considerably in 2024. Much like the rest of Boston, apartment availability has increased compared to 2023 when the city experienced the most severe apartment inventory shortage on record. Now in 2024, the real-time availability rate for Brighton MA apartments has increased by +61.69% year-over-year as many more options for renters are now available. As a result of the added inventory, rent price growth has decelerated following 2 years of record growth. Here are the trends affecting the apartment rental market in Brighton in 2024.
Apartment Supply Relief in Brighton MA
The current real-time availability rate (RTAR) in Brighton is 4.47%. That marks a +61.69% increase in apartment availability compared to mid-June 2023, which happened to be a historical low. Last year, RTAR peaked in early May at 3.19%. That was a fraction of the normal 5-6% RTAR we were used to seeing in Brighton prior to the pandemic during peak season. This year, RTAR peaked at 4.57% in early May, which is much closer to normal market conditions in Brighton.
The current real-time vacancy rate in Brighton, MA is 0.62%. That marks an eye-opening +287.50% increase since June 2023, when RTVR was at a paltry 0.16%. Despite the triple digit margin increase, vacancies are still very low by historical standards and are by no means a cause for concern. The current vacancy rate is very close to its level in June 2019 before the pandemic hit as apartment supply seems to be getting back to normal.
Average Rent Price in Brighton MA
The current average rent price in Brighton is $3,079. That figure is up +9.38% year-over-year and up a staggering +20.75% compared to two years ago. Despite the sharp increase in rent prices, Brighton remains more affordable than Boston’s average rent price of $3,266, offering renters a bit of relief from the exorbitant rent prices found in some of Boston’s core neighborhoods. Prices for apartments in Brighton have begun to flatten out in recent months for most apartment sizes.
The median days on market for Brighton apartments is currently 26 days, 2 days less when compared to 30 days ago, and 1 day less than Boston apartment's median of 27 days.
Brighton Apartment Rental Market Forecast 2024
Based on the most recent data, it looks like rent prices in Brighton may be approaching their ceiling if they haven’t already hit it. Look for prices to remain steady through the rest of the high rental season as we approach September 1. They may even begin to trend downwards in Q4 if there is some inventory leftover in September.
We expect the vacancy rate to spike close to 2% in Brighton on September 1st as it has done most years prior to COVID. Based on current data, it looks like the seasonal ebb and flow of inventory has returned in Brighton after many renters sat on the sidelines in 2023. Brighton’s vacancy rate has stayed below the 1% level since October 2022 in what has been a historic run of low rental supply. We suspect that will change this year as Brighton returns to business as usual. We will continue to monitor these trends closely here on bostonpads.com.
Demetrios Salpoglou
Published June 25, 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.
