Real estate rental platform Zumper has released its national rent report that analyzes rental data from over one million active listings across the country. This month, Boston has surpassed San Francisco to become the second most expensive city for renters in the United States. New York City is the most expensive place to rent an apartment in the country.
According to Zumper, median one-bedroom rent in Boston jumped 5.9% this month, to $3,060. Boston’s two-bedroom median is now $3,500, a 4.2% increase over last month. Like most large cities in the country, the cultural and financial center of the New England region is experiencing a housing crisis that was caused by zoning laws that favor single-family homes, and new inventory skewing toward luxury developments rather than more affordable homes. However, Zumper expects prices to soften a bit now that students have settled into their new homes and we enter what is traditionally the low season for renting across the country.
New York’s average one-bedroom rent price is way above Boston’s at $3,860. San Francisco is now the third-most expensive city in the United States for rent. Rounding out the top 10 are San Jose, California; Miami; San Diego; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and Oakland and Santa Ana, California.
Zumper reports that nationally, both one- and two-bedroom prices are down – the first time in two years that both markers have declined in tandem. The rent prices for a one-bedroom apartment dropped an average of 0.8% over last month to $1,491 and prices for a two-bedroom dropped 0.7% to $1,832.
