Boston Neighborhoods Where Rent Increased Most in 2021

Boston’s average rent price has been steadily on the rise since the housing crisis of 2008. Prior to the pandemic, rent prices were at record highs thanks to increasing enrollment at local universities and soaring real estate prices. However, rent prices did find themselves in the red in 2021 for the first time in over a decade thanks to widespread vacancies that hit the rental market as a result of remote learning.

Thankfully, like remote learning, the apartment supply glut was a temporary phenomenon and the market has corrected itself. Now, availability percentages for Boston apartments are even lower than they were before COVID. Average rent prices in Boston now compared to January 2021 are back in black, so the market was able to avoid 2 straight years of rent losses.

Still, some neighborhoods fared better than others over the past 2 years since COVID came to town. There was a temporary shift in renter demand in 2020 where vacancy rates and supply numbers were much tighter in the City’s outer markets compared to the areas near Downtown, and that may have had an impact on pricing in those areas. Here are the 4 neighborhoods where prices have increased the most.