According to the most recent apartment data from Boston Pads, apartment occupancy in Boston is currently sitting at 99.29%.  The current real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) for apartments in Boston is 0.71% with four months to go until it reaches its cyclical low point in late August.  It’s only a matter of time until it surpasses its historic low set in August of 2019 (0.62%).  It’s hard to believe this is happening, considering that RTVR hit an all-time high during the pandeic.  Remote learning and remote work took its toll on rental demand, launching the vacancy rate to a record 9.12% in October of 2020. 
Now coming out of the pandemic, apartment availability is lower than it’s ever been for this time of year.  The current real-time availability rate (RTAR) of apartments for rent in Boston is 4.88%.  Just a year ago in late March, that figure surpassed 13.53% in Boston for the first time in history.  So in just 2 years, we’ve seen a red hot rental market go into a deep freeze, and then go right back into the pressure cooker.

If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, it’s important to understand the causal link between your health and your baby’s health. By maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle during your pregnancy, you decrease your risk of pregnancy complications and birth defects while increasing your chance of having a safe and successful delivery.

Of course staying healthy sounds easy in theory, but putting that theory into practice can be tough for new moms-to-be. What foods should you eat and what foods should you avoid? What exercise habits should you continue to practice, and which ones should you stop? What should I avoid to reduce my risks of birth defects and miscarriages? There are many online resources and apps you can use to develop a pregnancy health plan. This article will cover the basics on how to stay healthy during pregnancy.

The apartment rental market in Charlestown, MA has undergone some changes over the past two years. Charlestown did not experience the same apartment supply disruption as most of the neighborhoods in Boston during the pandemic. While Boston’s real-time availability rate (RTAR) peaked at 13% last year, Charlestown’s RTAR recorded a much lower yearly high of 6.42%. Now, both RTAR and real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) are below the historical averages for May, and the RTVR currently sits at an all-time low of 0.44%.

Despite the relatively stable rental supply, rent prices for Charlestown apartments have dropped by a larger margin than most neighborhoods in Boston. This may present an opportunity for renters in 2022.

For pregnant women, your diet is the primary source of nutrition for your developing baby. It’s essential to maintain a balanced and healthy diet during pregnancy to ensure you’re giving your baby what it needs to grow strong and healthy. Still, there are some nutrients that are even more important for pregnant women and their developing baby.

This article will cover the best foods for pregnant women that you’ll want to include in your pregnancy health plan.

Many new mom’s don’t know what to expect when returning to the workplace after having a baby. Especially for those who are still breastfeeding, there may be concerns that their workplace won’t provide an environment conducive to breastfeeding. This article will cover your protected rights as a breastfeeding mother, and what you should expect in your place of employment.
Fair Labor Standards Act and Breastfeeding

In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to provide reasonable breaks for employees to express breastmilk for up to a year after childbirth. For a new mom, this could mean taking a break every 2 hours for 20-30 minutes each time. This is a protected right for workers in the United States, and should be the expectation for new mothers returning to work after maternity leave.

Real estate sales in the city of Boston have slowed over the first few months of 2022, indicating a cooling housing market. Since the beginning of the year, the average 30-year fixed APR has increased by over 70%, as rates jumped from 3.183% to 5.422%. This has slightly softened the market for buyers, as the total number of listings on market has increased since January. While home prices have increased so far in 2022, they’ll likely decelerate during the latter half of the year considering both housing supply and interest rates are on the rise.
Boston’s Real Estate Inventory Growing While Number of Property Sales Sluggish

Boston’s total inventory of for sale properties has been growing steadily over the first four months of 2022. We began the year with 90 single family homes for sale in Boston. The supply of single family properties has since increased to 162 for-sale units as of May 1. That marks an 80% increase in the city’s total single family inventory since the beginning of 2022.

Thus far, 2022 has been good to the apartment rental market in Cambridge, MA. After 18 months of rental supply saturation and price shrinkage caused by COVID, the market in Cambridge has turned a corner. Now, availability of Cambridge apartments is on par with pre-pandemic levels and the average rent price is closing in on its all-time high set in April of 2020. Even more impressive, the real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) in Cambridge hit an all time low of 0.50% last month, indicating that renter demand is outpacing apartment supply at the current moment.
Cambridge Apartment Supply Metrics

The current RTVR in Cambridge is 0.62%, up slightly from its all time low set late last month. That is 46.09% lower than the pre-COVID RTVR in mid-May 2019 (1.15%). This is a remarkable recovery considering the vacancy rate hit an unprecedented 8.27% in October 2020. There are still 3 months ahead of us until we reach late August, when vacancies reach their annual low point historically. So, it’s all but assured that RTVR will continue to push to new all-time lows.

It’s no secret that there’s a severe shortage of single family homes in Greater Boston. Due to growing demand and a lack of developable land in the metro area, most new development projects have been devoted to larger multi-unit condo buildings. As a result, prices for single family homes have increased by 60% over the past five years. The current 1-year median sale price for a single family home in the city of Boston is $770K.

Seeing data like that might discourage buyers who want to own a house in the metro area. Thankfully, a deeper dive into MLS data shows that there are still some places in Greater Boston where you can find a decent inventory of single-family homes for sale. There are even some neighborhoods where the median sale price is still under $500K. Here are some of the best areas in Boston to look for single family properties by quantity of listings and median sales price.

Boston Pads average rent price has just surpassed its all-time high, according to the most recent apartment data from Boston Pads. The current average rent price for non-luxury apartments in Boston is $2,648. The previous record was set in early June of 2020, when the
average rent price hit $2,646 before experiencing a downturn as a result of the pandemic-induced rental supply glut.

It appears that the relief in rent prices was short-lived in Boston. Apartment prices began to trend back upwards in October of last year. This coincided with the return of students to most of Boston’s largest campuses after shutting down during the 2020-2021 academic year. Since then, apartment availability and vacancy rates have hit historic lows as the current rental supply has struggled to catch up to the restored demand.

Prices for Boston apartments have accelerated particularly for larger units. The average rent price for 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom apartments hit all time highs in consecutive weeks in late January and early February this year and have continued to climb since. Boston’s 5 bedroom average rent price hit its all time high during the first week of March this year, while 2 bedroom units just exceeded its record high this week.

Medford’s average rent price has just surpassed its previous all-time high this month. The current average rent price of $2,158 eclipses the previous record of $2,156 set in July of 2020 after stagnating for 18 months during the pandemic. With apartment occupancy nearing all-time highs in Medford, it looks like 2022 will be a banner year for Medford’s apartment rental market.

Medford’s recent rent price growth comes as the neighborhood approaches record high occupancy. The current vacancy rate for Medford apartments sits at 0.67%, close to the all-time low of 0.62% set in March of 2020. Considering there are 5 months left until vacancy hits its cyclical low, that number will continue to push to unprecedented lows as we approach September.

Apartment availability, another key supply metric, is currently 2.8% in Medford. Compared to its pre-pandemic level in March 2019, that is 1.15% lower indicating that the rental market in Medford has never been tighter. Both availability and vacancies metrics suggest that Medford’s average rent price will continue to rise throughout 2022.