New data from commercial real estate analysis firm Reis shows a spike in rents for the second quarter of the year, with Boston among the top metro areas nationwide seeing increases.

Boston ranked fourth in the country in rent growth in the second quarter, with effective rents edging up 1.8 percent to an average rent of $1,625 per month.

The upward tick is all the more striking, given the steady decrease in rents seen over the past few years. Yearly averages rents were still down slightly, with landlords asking about 0.2 percent less than last year and getting about 0.1 percent less.

Nationwide, more than 44,000 units were absorbed, driving the first decrease in vacancy rates in two years, with vacancies dropping to 7.8 percent from 8 percent. Vacancy rates in the Boston metro area were considerably better, dropping 0.3 percent to 6.2 percent for the quarter.

The numbers were strong enough for the Reis analysts to suggest that the market has reached its turning point.

"The apartment sector may indeed have bottomed in the fourth quarter of 2009, and may be on the path to recovery," Victor Calanog, Reis research director, said in a statement.

The bounty in Boston, however, doesn’t seem to have extended to the rest of the state.

Kevin Sears, broker/owner at Sears Real Estate in Springfield and president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said the vacancy rate he’s seeing is more consistent with the national average of 7.9 percent.

"We’re seeing our vacancies increase a little bit here, our delinquencies increase a little bit," he said.