If you’ve been searching for an apartment in Greater Boston, then you know how competitive it can be. Asking rents are high — the median asking rent in metro Boston in June was $2,873, a 7.6 percent increase year over year, according to brokerage Redfin. Plus, there are few available apartments. According to apartment-listing site RentCafe.com, 94.9 percent of apartments in Greater Boston were occupied as of the fourth quarter of 2023, and there were eight prospective renters for every available apartment, often leading to bidding wars.“
There are more people looking for housing than there are available apartments,” said Van French, director of rentals for Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty in Boston. “It’s a difficult and frustrating cycle for renters to be in, even more so for lower-income renters who can’t afford a bidding war.”
Source: Developers set their sights on converting underperforming office buildings into apartments
