Boston’s rental market showed strong growth in Q1 2025, driven by continued demand, steady rent increases, and quick leasing activity across various property types. While concessions have slightly risen, they remain low compared to national averages, signaling sustained confidence from landlords.
Rents saw consistent upward pressure, particularly for larger units, reflecting the ongoing need for more space. This demand is further supported by an increase in inventory across the city, offering renters more choices as the busy spring season approaches. Despite the rise in available units, properties continue to lease rapidly, indicating strong renter interest.
Looking ahead, property managers anticipate that rents will remain stable in the short term, with expectations of steady pricing in the coming months. However, factors like rising maintenance costs and a growing inventory of multifamily units will be key trends to monitor.
Overall, Boston’s rental market is well-positioned for continued growth, with healthy fundamentals and positive momentum as we move into the peak rental season.
Continue reading for a deeper look into Boston's rental market, including rent trends, leasing activity, property manager outlook, and more.
In the Boston rental market, 28% of property managers expect rent prices to increase over the next six months, while 72% believe they will remain the same. Notably, no property managers anticipate a decrease in rent prices, reflecting a positive outlook for the market in terms of price stability or modest growth. When it comes to rental applications, 20% of property managers are seeing an increase in applicants, indicating a slight boost in demand. However, 10% are seeing fewer applicants, possibly due to localized factors, while 71% report that the number of applicants has remained steady. This suggests that the Boston rental market is seeing stable to slightly increased demand, with no major downturn in sight.
In Q1 2025, 18% of Boston rental listings included concessions, compared to a national average of 28%. While this represents a slight decline from the 20% recorded in Q4 2024, the overall trend shows that concessions in Boston have gradually increased over the past year. Still, Boston remains a competitive market where landlords rely less on incentives than in many other parts of the country.
Boston’s rental market gained momentum at the start of 2025. Single family homes averaged just 15 days on market, well below the national average of 23 days. Multifamily rentals averaged 22 days, also slightly better than the national figure of 23 days. This significant improvement from late 2024 suggests that renter activity picked up strongly in the new year.
Rental prices in Boston remained strong in Q1 2025. One-bedroom units increased slightly to $2,393, and two-bedroom units matched their previous high of $2,700. Three-bedroom rents climbed to $3,325, recovering from a flat end to 2024. Single family homes reached a new peak at $2,900, and multifamily units rose modestly to $2,600. These figures reflect a market with solid pricing power and consistent renter demand.
Boston experienced growth in rental inventory across all property types in Q1 2025. Three-bedroom listings rose 13.3%, reversing a year of declines, and single family inventory increased by 15.3%. Multifamily availability grew by 5.7%, while one- and two-bedroom listings increased by 3.8% and 4.3%, respectively. This broad-based rise in listings suggests that more property owners are bringing units to market in response to stronger demand.
This guest chart, courtesy of Snaptimate, illustrates regional cost trends for a typical residential unit turnover. The sample scope is for an 800 single-family unit and includes interior painting, carpet replacement, and resurfacing a pressure-treated deck. While the Northeast remains the most expensive region, the West is rapidly catching up with a 3.8% quarter-over-quarter increase - the highest in the country. Turnover costs are rising nearly everywhere, with 95% of markets analyzed showing upward movement. In the Boston market specifically, costs increased by 0.49%. In this work scope labor costs made up the bulk of the total, so wage inflation had the greatest impact on overall increases. The effect of tariffs on construction materials remains unclear, but it will be a key factor to watch in the coming quarters.
Rental data used in this report are sourced and catalogued directly by Rental Beast, unless otherwise noted. Rental Beast listing data covers a range of rental property types and owner types operating within the long-term rental market (generally considered to be leases with a minimum of three months). Single-family rentals (SFR) are considered to be properties with 4 or fewer units. Multifamily (MF) is more than 4 doors. Unless otherwise noted, our analysis uses the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as the geographical unit.
Unique listings counts are based on rentals that were on-market at any point during the stated period. Rents are calculated based on these listings. Days on market (DOM) and concession analysis are based on these listings, with some data sources excluded due to DOM and concession info being unavailable or deemed to be unreliable. Concessions are incentives that entice renters to sign a lease (e.g., one month free, a gift card, etc.).
Our sentiment survey is based on phone conversations during Q1 2025 with rental building and community managers and property managers. Questions and answer choices:
DISCLAIMER. This report attempts to provide reliable and useful information; however, there is no guarantee that the information or other content in this document is accurate, current or suitable for any particular purpose. All content is subject to change without notice. All content is provided on an “as is” basis, with no warranties of any kind whatsoever. Rental data used in this report are sourced and catalogued directly by Rental Beast, unless otherwise noted. Our analysis uses MSA as the geographical unit and is not reflective of all-U.S. measures. Information from this document may be used with proper attribution.
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Snaptimate (www.snaptimate.com) is an app that delivers instant, localized cost estimates for residential repairs, replacements, and renovations—tailored specifically for real estate professionals. It is fueled by the same data trusted by contractors for more than 20 years in the nation’s #1 estimating platform.
