Brighton MA Apartment Vacancies Market Report

The apartment rental market in Boston has recovered quite a bit from the vacancy issues it experienced throughout the pandemic.  That recovery has been significant in most of the Metro’s neighborhoods, especially the student markets, but that apartment demand resurgence we saw over the summer seemed to fall short of Brighton.  The current vacancy rate for apartments in Brighton MA sits at 1.38%, slightly above that of Boston (1.33%), and apartment availability is even further behind.

 

Presently, the vacancy rate in Brighton stands at 1.38%, which is on par with the vacancy rate in the city of Boston at 1.33%.  This positions Brighton in the middle of the pack in terms of apartment supply among all Boston neighborhoods.  Roxbury’s real-time vacancy rate of 4.21% is currently the highest among all neighborhoods, followed by other outer lying neighborhoods like Mattapan (3.28%) and Dorchester (2.98%).  For contrast, vacancy rates in Boston’s core neighborhoods are even lower than they were before the pandemic.  South Boston (0.31%), South End (0.25%), and Back Bay (0.41%) lead the pack and all have vacancy rates below .5%.

 

Over the past year, there has been a +13.11% increase in the YOY RTVR% of Brighton. A similar trend can be seen in the YOY changes in vacancy rates whereas supply has shrunk considerably in the inner city while increasing in the outer lying areas.  The neighborhoods that saw the largest YOY decline in vacant apartment inventory are South End (-84.47%), Fenway (-70.93%), and South Boston (-63.10%).  Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain and Beacon Hill recored the largest increases in apartment vacancies compared to November 2020 at +186.01% at +166.67%, and +144.30% respectively.

 

The real-time availability rate in Brighton is 1.77%, compared to 1.88% for all Boston apartments.  Mission Hill (1.61%) and West End (1.79%) are in a similar range as Brighton. Just like the vacancy rate, the apartment availability rate in Roxbury (4.69%) is the highest among all neighborhoods of Boston and is much higher as compared to Brighton. Also at higher levels are apartment availability rates for Jamaica Plain (3.12%), Allston (2.36%), East Boston (2.39%) and Charlestown (2.23%).

 

Brighton’s apartment rental market seems to be affected by the same demand trend as other outer lying areas.  Widespread vacancies in 2020 spurred many landlords to reduce rents and provide incentives for renters, which may have pushed many to rent an apartment in a more premium area.  This has left demand stagnant in some of Boston’s more affordable markets for the short term.  Look for rent prices to climb in Boston’s core areas in 2021, restoring demand for apartments in Brighton and other outer lying neighborhoods.