Boston’s Apartment Shortage Has Reached A Tipping Point

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.