Rental market update (August edition). Where are prices falling?

If you’re on the hunt for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston proper, the median rent for listings now is $300 more expensive than it was on New Year’s Day, according to an analysis by ApartmentAdvisor.

But year over year, the cost is down more than 5 percent, the rental marketplace reported.

Nationally, we’re seeing rents on the rise, but at a slower pace. According to Zillow, “the typical US rent rose 0.4 percent in July to $2,070, down from 0.5 percent growth in June and 0.6 percent growth in April and May.”

What’s going on in Boston proper? Comparing August 2023 and 2024 asking prices, ApartmentAdvisor saw an increase in the median rent of available listings in all but the one-bedroom market:

A look at the available listings finds a slight edge in inventory in the two-bedroom market (32.41 percent) over the one-bedroom (31.26 percent). Three-bedroom-plus units made up 25.22 percent of that, and studios comprised only 11.1 percent.

Studio apartments

A year-over-year comparison indicates that it’s less expensive to find a studio apartment in the Back Bay, Fenway, Dorchester, and highly sought-after Jamaica Plain, but the cost of a unit in Brighton, popular with college students, is more than 15 percent higher than it was in 2022:

One-bedroom apartments

There are savings to be found in Allston, where the median asking rent for available apartments is nearly 24 percent lower than it was in August 2022. In Dorchester, the median rent is about 21 percent lower than it was last August and more than 23 percent lower than it was in August 2022. You can also find savings in Mission Hill, Fenway, and South Boston, but prices are skyrocketing in Roxbury:

Two-bedroom apartments

The year-over-year jump in the cost to rent in Fenway (185.4 percent) illustrates how the median rental asking price in this analysis is predicated on available inventory, and the apartments on the market here can be high-end. Prices are also up since last August in Charlestown (23.4 percent) and Brighton (7.9 percent), but deals can be had in the Back Bay (down 22.4 percent since August 2022), South Boston (down 14.4 percent since August 2022), and in the North End (down 14.8 percent in that time frame):

Three-bedroom-plus apartments

This segment of the market is seeing an uptick in costs, particularly downtown and in Fenway and West Roxbury. Look for deals in the Back Bay and Charlestown. Roxbury, which historically has been one of the more modestly priced neighborhoods, registered a nearly 15 percent jump in the median price from last August to now and a more than 22 percent increase since August 2022:

How we stand nationally

Boston has dropped in the national rankings to be the fourth-most-expensive city in the United States for renters. Burlington, Vermont, continues to hold the No. 8 spot on the list — in a state United Van Lines called the top in-migration state for three years in a row.

These were the top 10 costliest cities for a one-bedroom apartment:

And the least expensive:

Here’s how a few other New England cities fared:

For renters looking to Providence for more affordable housing, the search has gotten more forgiving. The median asking price for a one-bedroom apartment in the Rhode Island capital was $1,732 on Aug. 15, which reflects a nearly 14 percent decline year over year.

The Massachusetts market

A look at asking prices around the state (the latest available are from July) finds Cambridge with a Vulcan grip on the No. 1 priciest spot: $2,652 for a studio, $2,982 for a one-bedroom, $3,676 for a two-bedroom, and $4,350 for a three-bedroom-plus unit. When you get into the bigger rentals, you start to see towns like Hingham, Lexington, and West Tisbury top the list, but Cambridge is the priciest community overall. This is despite a 3.8 percent year-over-year drop in asking rents:

And these were the least expensive:

It’s worth noting that in Worcester, an option for renters looking to find more affordable homes, the median asking price of $1,750 for a one-bedroom apartment is down nearly 14 percent year over year, according to the website’s state market analysis.

What are prices doing in the community you have your sights set on:

In welcome news for renters, Zillow’s July rental report, released Monday, suggests that some prospective tenants are gaining the upper hand in negotiations. More landlords in Greater Boston are offering renters concessions, the online rental site indicated. “In the Boston metro area, 21.7 percent of rentals offered a concession in July. That’s compared to 14.6 percent a year ago.”