6.2.3      Median advertised two-bedroom rental, Boston, 1995 – 2002

For years in Boston — with its large student population and large numbers of recent graduates and youth culture — the option to rent provided a way to enjoy the city affordably and without having to make a complete commitment.  Rental affordability was helped by Boston’s rent control law. This disappeared in 1994 after voters statewide (although not in Boston) voted to abolish it. As a result, rents rose alongside housing prices during the economic expansion of the 1990s — almost doubling in some Boston neighborhoods between 1995 and 2002.

How are we doing?

The citywide median advertised asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the first half of 2002 was $1,550 — 71% higher than the advertised median of $909 in 1995, after the end of rent control, but the lowest advertised asking rent since 1999. With an anemic economic recovery and continuing job losses in a number of sectors, rents are beginning to moderate.

Today, with rents as high as many mortgage payments, those who can afford it are likely to try to purchase a house or condominium in order to reap the benefit of tax incentives. Those who cannot are forced to pay well more than the standard 30% or so for housing, foregoing other essentials.