The Boston Rental Crisis

After months of scouring the internet, calling listing agents, getting references and securing a deposit, Megan Baginski had a chance at acquiring a suitable rental.

“It felt really difficult and stressful,” said Baginski.

The Northeastern University student’s story is all too common in a growing city with many college-aged people where housing costs are abnormally high. With an average rent price that is 122% higher than the national average, finding affordable housing is no small feat. The cost of apartments is on the rise, with ApartmentAdvisor reporting a 23.42% increase in monthly rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Boston from March 2023 to 2024.

Boston college students — both undergraduate and graduate — comprise about 150,000 of Boston’s roughly 650,000 population, according to WBUR. City officials found that, in 2022, Northeastern had the highest number of undergraduate and graduate students living off campus. Boston University follows in second place for graduates and third to undergraduates in off campus housing. The neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of college students are Fenway, Allston, Brighton and Mission Hill. These neighborhoods are notably near the main campuses of Northeastern and Boston University.

Looking to the future, Boston’s population is only expected to grow. In fact, city planners expect the population to exceed 700,000, a 15-17% increase, by 2030. Community-led initiatives and on-campus support serve as resources for helping all renters in Boston find housing that can meet their needs.

Dave Wood, a local agent with over 20 years of experience, identified the most pertinent issue plaguing Boston renters as a lack of available rental properties. For a city that has over 50 universities, “there just isn’t enough housing,” said Wood. He referenced Mayor Michelle Wu’s approved plan to build 17 new buildings, each comprising hundreds of units, across eight neighborhoods as a good start for solving this problem, while also wondering what potential renters will do in the meantime.

Business Producer for the Boston Globe Dana Gerber said, “there’s not a ton of inventory for a city of this size and the housing stock is really old. It sounds silly, but it’s just supply and demand.”

Because of Boston’s intensely competitive market, as defined by Wood, universities have promoted systems for aiding students in the off-campus housing search. Students, however, do not always feel they are useful.

At Berklee College of Music, Olivia Mattingly, freshman, said the off-campus housing portal was rather unhelpful, and she found herself instead turning to online real estate websites, such as Zillow.

Baginski recalled her experience of finding a rental property in Mission Hill as “stressful,” but ultimately “doable.” She did not use Northeastern’s off-campus housing support and, like Mattingly, used online listing websites.

Mallory Pernaa, director of off campus engagement and support at Northeastern, said via email that her office has many opportunities for educating and assisting students. Her office offers free workshops and videos, as well as individual meetings with students looking for more guidance. Baginski said she felt sure enough in her and her roommates’ abilities to successfully find housing, especially because they were looking to Mission Hill, a well-known neighborhood amongst Northeastern students.

Executive Director for Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Association Karen Gately called the neighborhood “an island” in the city. It is appealing to so many different types of people because there is a real sense of community, she said.

The neighborhood’s proximity to campus, housing sizes and price points draw in many students.

Gately went on to say that there are “1,114 units of housing and only 42 units are owned. Everything else is rented.” Out of these rentals, she estimates that most go to college students as that market “is lucrative” and because student renters are able to split the cost for a house that a family might not be able to afford. Student renters on Mission Hill agree with Gately’s observation.

“For us, it was mostly for pricing. Compared to apartments on Symphony, we were able to get more for our budget on the Hill,” Baginski continued, “we pay a fair rent here, but it’s on the upper end of our budget.”

Symphony renter Vandya Goel, a third-year health science major at Northeastern, reiterated Baginski’s comments on Symphony’s rental price, “I don’t think the prices are worth the apartments you are getting.” Goel has lived in her first-floor Symphony apartment for a year and a half and treated the process rather casually. “We weren’t seriously looking,” Goel continued, “my roommate’s parents were browsing apartments in the area online and sent it to us.”

Sophia Cannilla, a freshman nursing student at Northeastern, also lives on Symphony. To her surprise, the process of finding housing was much easier than she expected. A spreadsheet of sublets was sent on her sorority’s GroupMe page, she said.

A couple weeks later, she was moving in. Cannilla went on to say that she feels her rent is high, but that Boston prices are known to be high and finding a suitable apartment is worth the cost.

Real estate analysis websites have released data on the competitive nature of Boston’s costly market. The median time on the market for rentals is 17 days, according to a Boston Pads report from February.

Mattingly shared that this supply scarcity made her process far more tedious than originally anticipated. “I would see something on Zillow and then try to schedule a showing, but the information would be outdated,” said Mattingly.

If an apartment was still available, bidding wars often ensued. Baginski recalled a situation where she and her roommates were against other renters. Bidding wars for apartments has caused tenants to bid, on average, $177 per month over the listing price, according to an article by Boston.com.

Jackie Daly, real estate professional and landlord, said competition is steep and renters are becoming desperate to ensure they come out victorious. She has experienced tenants offering her over asking price for monthly rent to help their odds, she said.

This costly competition prompted Cayla Berkowitz, an employee of the Commonwealth Corporation, to recently make the move from Boston to Medford. The lack of inventory in Boston and challenges finding apartments that were within her budget while having everything she needed pushed her and her boyfriend to look in Medford. Interestingly, Berkowitz described the Medford rental market as “extremely competitive” and reminded her of her previous experiences in Boston.

Ultimately, though, Berkowitz is glad to have made the move out of Boston. “We have a lot of space for a pretty fair price. We have the perks of having a lot of nice restaurants and fun things that Boston does without having to pay the ridiculous prices,” said Berkowitz.

Moving out of Boston is a new trend, especially amongst the younger workforce. A recent survey by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 25% of 20 to 30 year-olds living in the Greater Boston area plan to leave within the next five years, and rent was among the top reasons. Gerber said, “65% of people rent in the city and the inventory is so tight.” Younger people may not want to “grin and bear” the high costs of rent anymore, she said.

“It is very intense right now and some landlords take advantage of fearful renters,” Daly said.

Humanitarian groups throughout Boston strive to limit this dynamic and teach tenants their rights. The Boston Tenant Coalition works “to articulate and publicize a tenant agenda” and to “increase support for low-income housing, and defeat real estate industry attempts to erode tenant rights,” according to their website.

The Boston Housing Authority also aims to help low-income renters by offering Section 8 services, community engagement opportunities and grants. This is increasingly necessary as the average Boston rent price currently beats New York City and rivals San Francisco. With an average monthly rent of $3,405, according to Forbes, many Bostonians are becoming “rent burdened.”

The Roxbury Tenants of Harvard has services, such as Section 8 housing, and accepts vouchers to help offset the high rates that Gately sees in her neighborhood. The association also offers programs that residents may not be able to partake in due to this rent burdening. There is a pool, library, gym, teen center and numerous other amenities that Roxbury residents have access to. “We keep the neighborhood desirable for the people that live here who probably can’t afford some of the typical services you see a family participating in,” said Gately.

The rental market impacts all Bostonians, especially as buying is expected to remain an obstacle, according to Wood and Daly.

Allison Berger, a nurse at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was a Boston renter for three years and just recently bought her first apartment despite the troubled market. She recalls having to “act quickly” during her rental days. She continued, “if I liked a place, I would be ready to sign it.”

She advises renters to “move quickly,” while Berkowitz urges fellow renters not to “be afraid to look outside of Boston Proper. It tends to be cheaper and you get more space.”

Boston’s rental market is not expected to change, according to reports Gerber has seen and trends Wood has noticed. The drumbeat of rental anxiety is felt by many, said Gerber.

When it comes to attitudes toward the rental market, Gerber said, “people are becoming passionately apathetic.”