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Boston Rents Keep Rising, And Apartments Are Often Hard To Find

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Boston has some of the highest rents in the nation, and they're going up. The average monthly rent is now just under $1,900, up more than 7 percent since last year.

And if you're looking for a fashionable Back Bay address, good luck. The vacancy rate is just 1 percent, and a two-bedroom apartment will cost you nearly $2,900 per month.

The new data comes from the Somerville-based brockerage Rental Beast.

"These are the highest rents we've seen over the past 10 years," said Rental Beast President Ishay Grinberg, who joined Radio Boston to talk about the city's rental market.

It's not all bad news, according to Grinberg. In fact, he sees it as quite the opposite.

"Because people can't afford or can't find inventory in the immediate downtown area, it helps neighborhoods around the downtown area get developed," Grinberg said. "For example, if you look at South Boston six years ago and what transformation it's been though - the Seaport area where you have world class restaurants, new convention center, new hotels, pharma companies going in there now - that neighborhood has gone through serious transformation."

Similar changes are happening in East Boston and parts of Somerville, Grinberg said.

"Being on that list of 'the most expensive towns to live in,' I think is parallel to the most desirable places to live in," Grinberg said. "And even though it's expensive to live here, and it's expensive to live in places like New York and San Francisco, people are interested in living here. The quality of life is better. There are more amenities and more opportunities."

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This segment aired on August 15, 2012.

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