Office rents are expected to decline by 14.3 percent in Greater Boston while retail rents drop 9.7 percent in 2020 as the two property sectors absorb the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a research report.
Boston-area renters are now paying an average of $2,349 per month for their apartments, making the region the fourth-most-expensive rental market in the country.
An analysis of its own search data by the Zillow-owned rental listings platform HotPads has found that renters in Boston were the outside group most likely searching for rentals in Providence, where the median rent of HotPads-listed units is $630 less per month.
Greater Boston may be on track to deliver over 5,000 new apartments in 2019, but it represents a 24 percent drop from last year, while the metro area’s population continues to grow.
High rents, low vacancies and steep barriers to entry are hallmarks of the Greater Boston multifamily housing market, the third-most-expensive U.S. region in which to rent an apartment.
