If you and Fido are looking for an apartment lease in the Boston area, you may be unsure where to look. This time of year can be notoriously stingy in terms of apartment availability, and many landlords have a no pet policy in their units. In fact, at the time of posting, there are 15 neighborhoods in the city of Boston with under 5 pet friendly apartments available for rent, and 5 of those have 0 available.

So where do you go to look for pet friendly apartments in Boston? Some neighborhoods are easier than others in general. In this article, we’ll look at the 5 neighborhoods that have a decent of inventory of pet friendly apartment options, and we’ll break down the number that are available right now.

The apartment rental market in Brighton MA has experienced a significant recovery in 2021, following a year marked by disruption from pandemic related market forces. Following 2020, when the supply of apartments ballooned to unprecedented highs, Brighton’s rental supply has settled back to its pre-pandemic levels and apartment availability is actually tighter than it was in December 2019.

Newton has cemented its name on the list of best places to live in Boston. With its sparse suburban vibe and a variety of parks, restaurants and bars, this neighborhood has managed to attract a large number of residents who commute to Boston. Consequently, the demand for rental properties has increased drastically, leading to a shortage of Newton MA apartments for rent.

Rental demand has been on the rise in Quincy since the pandemic began. The apartment supply in Quincy stayed relatively stable throughout most of 2020 and this year, staying well below the Metro average availability rate. More recently, the rental supply contracted quickly in Boston’s inner markets while in most outer areas, the rental markets have been slower to recover. That is not the case for Quincy, where apartment availability is actually lower than it was prior to the pandemic.

Medford MA is quickly becoming a popular suburb of Boston. It is a quiet neighborhood historically known for lower rent prices and its close proximity to Boston. Since the pandemic, the rental market has been booming in Medford, as there seems to be higher demand for rental apartments compared to years past. This is clearly shown by the current real time availability rate of Medford MA apartments.

The real time availability rate of apartments in Medford is 2.49%. This figure has dropped by -45.99% YOY. This change is considerably higher than the year-over-year change in apartment availability of nearby Waltham, where the real time availability rate has dropped by a negligible -1.45%.

If we now consider the real time vacancy rate of Medford, we can observe a similar trend. The vacancy rate for apartments in Medford is 1.25%, considerably lower than those of Salem, Melrose, Belmont and Weymouth. Salem and Melrose have a real time vacancy rate of 2.83%, and 2.70% respectively whereas the real time vacancy rate of Belmont and Weymouth is 3.34% and 3.17%. These cities have the highest real time vacancy rates among the suburbs of Boston.

Apartment demand has been gradually picking up across most of Boston metro’s markets. Charlestown, being one of the key rental markets, is also on its path to recovery with rent prices increasing and apartment availability falling when compared to last year.

When we analyze the rental market data trends in Charlestown, a neighborhood on the northern edge of Boston, we can see that demand has picked up, albeit slightly. Though there are clear signs that rental demand is improving in Charlestown, when compared to Boston as a whole, the supply figures in Charlestown don’t paint a great picture. However, it’s not far behind and is fast catching up so we speculate that the rental market will improve next year.

The real-time availability rate (RTAR) of Charlestown apartments is 1.63%, which is near the average for the city at the moment. At 1.64%, Boston has recorded a near-identical availability rate. But the real-time vacancy rate (RTVR) of Charlestown apartments (1.33%) is one of the highest among all areas in the city. Only Downtown (3.78%), Mattapan (3.23%), Dorchester (2.55%), Roxbury (2.35%)and Jamaica Plain (1.38%) currently have a higher vacancy rate than Charlestown. If we compare these availability figures with those of Boston apartments and the suburbs, whose values are 0.85% and 1.2% respectively, we can see that a higher percentage of apartments are vacant in Charlestown.

The real estate market in Medford MA has undoubtedly benefited from the the rapidly ascending Greater Boston housing market. Once a quiet and affordable suburb just north of Boston, real estate prices in Medford have soared in recent years thanks to its close proximity to inner Boston and exorbitant real estate prices in the city’s core areas. As a result, the median sales price for single family homes for sale in Medford MA is $756K over the past 12 months, up from around $400K in 2012.

In spite of its growth, Medford’s median sales price ranks it in the bottom third of all Boston neighborhoods. At $756K, Medford is the 8th most affordable neighborhood to buy a single family home in Metro Boston, with median prices similar to that of Roslindale ($731K), Lower Allston ($754K), West Roxbury ($762K), and Fort Hill ($777K). If the city of Boston is taken out of the rankings, Medford is the second most affordable single family market behind Quincy, where the median sales price was $601K over the past 12 months.

In terms of real estate prices for square footage, Medford real estate has averaged $447 per square foot over the last year of MLS sales data. This ranks 7th most affordable among the 33 neighborhoods closest to Boston, and considerably less than Boston’s city square foot average ($720).

With all of the new high rise developments built in Boston over the past decade, there have been tens of thousands of new luxury apartments added to Boston’s rental inventory. Still, if you’re searching online for Boston luxury apartments, you will find that many of the listings have inaccurate and/or outdated information.

Property management companies are notorious for not updating their rent pricing and inventory levels. So, when you are looking at listings on various apartment portals, there is a good chance that the price for that apartment may have changed, or worse, that there are no longer any units available for rent in that building.

Still, despite the lack of reliable information, we can still get a good picture of what neighborhoods have the most options to select from overall. The following neighborhoods have the highest inventory of luxury apartment rentals in Boston. And remember, if you’re ever in doubt about the price or availability of a luxury apartment, call the management company directly. They’ll know the correct information right away and can help you spare yourself from the rental runaround. \

Last year in 2020, the city of Boston experienced its first decrease in average rent price since the housing crisis of 2008. Remote learning and the subsequent impact on the housing market sent landlords scrambling to fill vacant units. Broker’s fees were waived and rents were slashed in an effort to resuscitate the demand that was lost from the off campus housing market.

This year, remote learning was nixed by most of the area’s largest universities, resulting in one of the fastest market corrections in history. As a result, rent prices for Boston apartments have rebounded and the city avoided recording two consecutive years of rent price declines. The current average rent price in Boston is $2,594 across all apartment sizes, a slight increase of 0.35% compared to December 2020’s mark.

We still have some ground to make up before we reach the record high rent prices we were seeing prior to the pandemic. Compared to December 2019, when Boston’s average rent price was $2,642, the current average rent price is still down -1.79% city-wide. Still, considering that apartment supply numbers were at historic highs in March of this year, this drop is not nearly as large as it could have been.

Quincy’s real estate market has been a rising star among all of the neighborhoods in Metro Boston. Historically, housing prices have been between 10-20% less in Quincy compared to Boston, but more recently both rent prices and median home prices have been fast on the rise. This has shrunk a once healthy margin between the cost of housing in Quincy compared to Boston for renters and home buyers.

This article will take a mathematical approach to the classic rent vs. buy dilemma as it related to Quincy. To do this, we’re going to subtract the average monthly cost of owning a home in Quincy by the average monthly cost of renting an apartment. To estimate the average monthly cost of owning, we’ll use the most up-to-date median sales price data from MLS, current Quincy property tax rates, and the average Quincy homeowner’s insurance. Average monthly cost of renting is based on the average rent price of Quincy apartments.

We’ll apply this formula to both condo and single family property types. We’ll also compare different property sizes.