South Boston Vacancy Rate Sits Below .5%

When compared with other neighborhoods in Boston, the apartment rental market in South Boston has arguably performed the strongest. There has been a drop in both the YOY RTAR% and the YOY RTVR% despite the fact that Southie maintained one of the lowest vacancy rates through most of the pandemic. As a result, the real-time vacancy rate and availability rate are as low as they’ve ever been in South Boston, and there is a likely chance that the vacancy rate for apartments in South Boston will drop even further in the near future.

The real-time vacancy rate in South Boston currently stands at 0.31%. Though it’s not the lowest in the city, the South Boston vacancy rate has remained low throughout the pandemic. The lowest vacancy rate has currently is being recorded in nearby South End at 0.25%, closely followed by Northeastern/Symphony where the vacancy rate is 0.26%. Some of the other core areas in Boston like Back Bay (0.41%), Beacon Hill (0.77%), Mission Hill (0.69%) and West End (0.89%) have also registered extremely low vacancy rates. The real-time vacancy rate for all Boston apartments currently stands at 1.33%. Outside Boston, the vacancy rate stands at 1.49%.

South Boston landlords and real estate investors were spared most of the inventory issues experienced by the rest of the city throughout the pandemic.  It’s hard to believe that the YOY RTVR% in South Boston has dropped by -63.10% considering how low the vacancy rate was in November 2020 compared to other neighborhoods. There has also been a sharp drop in the YOY RTAR% in South Boston (-72.00%).

In the neighboring town of Mission Hill, the YOY RTVR% has fell by -50.00%. The decrease has been even higher in Fenway (-70.93%). There have been some neighborhoods where the RTVR% shot up over the past year. Beacon Hill, for instance, saw an increase of +165.52% in its YOY RTVR% since November 2020. The highest rise in RTVR% was reported by Lower Allston at +365.52%.

The drop in the YOY RTAR% in South Boston has been higher than the decrease in the town’s YOY RTVR%, indicating the market is poised to keep supply numbers low.  Renters beware, if you thought it was hard to find an apartment for rent in South Boston before, the data indicates that it will only get tougher in the near future.