Boston-area renters are now paying an average of $2,349 per month for their apartments, a new study from REIS Inc. has found.

The company, part of Moody’s Analytics, found that the average effective rent – measured as the base rent minus any discounts or incentives from landlords – had risen 0.6 percent from the third to the fourth quarters of this year. The same report found Greater Boston’s rental vacancy rate in the fourth quarter was 5 percent, up 0.1 percent from the previous quarter but down 0.2 percent over the previous 12 months.

The average Boston-area renter was paying more than the average renter in the area of Oakland, California, who was paying $2,274 per month, but less than renters in New York City, San Francisco or San Jose, California, who were paying $3,599, $3,153 and $2,630 per month, respectively. Of the markets tracked by REIS, the Boston-area market is the fourth-most expensive in the country, as measured by average effective monthly rent. The national effective rent in the fourth quarter was $1,426.

Nationally, REIS found that apartment occupancy growth slowed in the fourth quarter, but the national rental market’s fundamentals remained healthy, with demand increasing along with supply.

The high cost of housing in Boston has prompted prominent area leaders, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, to call for a range of measures to boost spending on affordable housing, from taxes on real estate sales to rent control.

The REIS report found that the average asking rent in Greater Boston had risen 3.7 percent over 2019, but the average effective rent had grown by 4.2 percent.