Rent Prices in Boston Are Down Since Last Year

We're still the third most expensive rental market in the country, though.

It seems 2016 was an odd, unpredictable year in a lot of ways, one of which now includes a smidgen of change in Boston’s notoriously high rent prices.

A new report from apartment-finding platform Zumper found that rent in Boston has fallen nearly six percent since this time last year. Make no mistake, Boston is still the third most expensive market in the country behind San Francisco and New York City, but the drop may signal an uptick in inventory.

Zumper created a handy heat map with its data to illustrate changes in price by neighborhood, which include Somerville and Cambridge. Cambridge’s Area IV experienced the most dramatic rent decline in 2016, falling 12 percent. It was followed by Beacon Hill, Chinatown/Leather District, and West Cambridge, which all dropped by 10 percent.

On the other hand, Mission Hill and Columbus Park/Andrew Square had the fastest growing rent prices. Zumper speculates renters migrated to the outskirts of the city to cut costs, because Mission Hill and Columbus Park/Andrew Square were the only neighborhoods with double-digit growth at 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Perhaps it’s time for a move. See where your neighborhood (or future neighborhood) lines up on Zumper’s heat map of Boston below.

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