First it was condo sales……now apartment rents
Business Week ranked the top cities where apartment rents have fallen
Rank: 10
Rent drop: -2.8%
Q4 2008 rent change: -2.4%
Q4 2007 rent change: 0.5%
Effective rent: $1,634.20
From Business Week:
The Boston area, home of Harvard University, MIT, and Boston University as well as some of the nation’s finest hospitals, is seeing damage to its financial sector. Thousands of financial-services layoffs have been announced, including major cuts at Boston-based State Street and Fidelity investments. The unemployment rate climbed to 5.0% in November 2008 compared to 3.6% in November 2007. The apartment vacancy rate jumped to 6.0% in the fourth quarter last year from 4.7% in the same period in 2007. Landlords on average are giving 1.3 weeks of rent concessions.
My thoughts: In the last two weeks, my one rental agent, rented several Beacon Hill apartments. In all cases, the landlord had to make concessions. The concessions were both lowering the rent and paying a portion of the broker fee. However, from my experience, its not uncommon for landlords this time of year, to make concessions to rent out apartments.
So what are your thoughts about the Boston rental market?