No one day shines a brighter light on the rental housing market in the city of Boston than Sept. 1, as thousands of people — largely college-aged students and young professionals — make the move into new quarters. This year’s turnover surge took place on the Labor Day holiday, affording some relief to both those doing the moving and motorists in the city.
As the U-Hauls hit the streets, The Reporter turned to local experts in rental market locally to inquire about what changes— if any— they are seeing today over previous years, particularly with new policies impacting international students and a change in state law that now requires that landlords, not tenants, to pay fees if they engage a broker.
So far, according to industry experts and officials who track citywide rentals, there has not yet been a big impact on rental pricing, although there is evidence of a bigger inventory of still-available units in certain neighborhoods, like Allston and Brighton.
Boston Housing Chief Sheila Dillon, a longtime administrator whose office has tracked the rental market by neighborhood for decades, said in an interview last week that monthly rental costs for Dorchester and Mattapan remains stable by most measurements compared to last year.
“Overall, we haven’t seen any rental increases at all in Dorchester or Mattapan,” Dillon said. “The last couple of years it’s been holding steady. Things were a little up and down during (the pandemic) but in 2022, 2023, and 2024, it’s been steady. There’s really been no increases in 2023 or 2024 in Dorchester or Mattapan…They are high rents, though.”
She added that a majority of residents in Dorchester and Mattapan are tenants, according to city records, totaling about 62.5 percent in Dorchester and 55.3 percent in Mattapan. Citywide, 64.5 percent of households rent their home space.
In Dorchester and Mattapan, Dillon noted, student-occupied housing is quite low based on the city’s annual Student Housing Report, which is gleaned from mandated data provided by universities around the city.
“The numbers and percentages of students living off campus and not at home in Dorchester and Mattapan are still really low,” she said. “I was actually surprised they were so low in Dorchester. It’s seven percent of students living off campus there.”
Local realtors who spoke with The Reporter last week said they are noticing certain trends in the market.
“The vibe for Dorchester is getting better and better and better,” said Charlie Maneikis, whose firm is one of the leading rental brokers locally. “I have no concern about long-term rental market strength. I honestly think it is only going to get better, and hopefully, there will continue to be an affordable component.”
The entrance into the market of large rental complexes like Imprint on Morrissey and DotBlock on Dorchester Avenue have added a new dimension to the local market in recent years.
“I think the price point is definitely higher than it’s been, but there are some really beautiful buildings and units that are being developed,” said Tara O’Riordan, an agent with Coldwell Banker’s Neponset office.
“There are a lot of people looking for housing who can’t afford to buy and who are just looking for more space, and prices are just going to keep going up for rent, unfortunately.”
She added: “In years past, we would say to prospective tenants that you’re looking on average $1,000 a bedroom, maybe a little more depending, but I think that number now is $1,250, $1,300, and those are just for your entry-level apartments. It could go up to $1,500 if the unit has all the amenities and parking; it really depends.”
Realtors and city officials are all watching to see how a new Massachusetts law — which went into effect on August 1— might move the needle on costs. The law mandates that landlords— not tenants— pay the broker fees if they initiated a deal. Tenants will be responsible for paying a fee if they hire a broker to assist with their search.
“In the past, the tenant was responsible for paying the broker fee,” said O’Riordan. “Now, it is whoever hires the agent. If the landlord hires the agent, it’s their responsibility; if the tenant hires the agent, it’s their responsibility.”
Leslie MacKinnon, the team lead at MacKinnon & Co. at Compass, thinks rents will generally continue to increase as a result of the new law.
“What we’re anticipating and what we’re already starting to see happen is that rents are increasing because now the landlord is on the hook to pay the broker fee,” said MacKinnon, whose primary market is Dorchester.
“I think that tenants can expect to see more of that to come. In some ways, this change does backfire a little bit in making it more affordable and easier for tenants to get into a property.”
Maneikis, a lifelong Dorchester resident, also wonders what long-term impact the law will have on the market.
“I do think that where rents land next year as a result of this is the big question,” said Maneikis. “If the average rent is $3,000 a month in Boston, and that’s the fee the listing agent is being paid, and if the landlord wants to fully recoup that over 12 months, that’s a $250 a month increase, which translates into about 8.5 percent.”
He added: “It’s not going to be dollar for dollar, but I do think there is going to be an adjustment period, and landlords are going to want to recoup that cost somehow, and hopefully it’s just somewhere in the middle and doesn’t adversely affect the rents. But I think it’s going to be a driver for a greater than average rent increase.”
Craig Galvin of the Galvin Group said that many of his clients are taking a wait-and-see approach to the broker fee change.
“We’ve kept our clients apprised of what’s going on, they made decisions based on that, and instead of raising the rent, maybe they’re keeping the rent where they are and keeping the tenant to find out how this thing shakes out,” he said. “There is a lot of uneasiness going on, so either tenants have stayed where they are, or they are waiting to see what happens.”
MacKinnon said she saw many tenants playing the waiting game, too.
“A lot of tenants were waiting until the Aug. 1 turn-around time for that [change], and a lot of people ended up delaying their application process until right around Aug. 1,” said MacKinnon. “That created a lot of backlog of inventory, and then everything seemed to go pretty quickly.”
Amenity-packed buildings like Imprint, DotBlock, and Treadmark in Ashmont also play a role in pricing, which has “been a little bit stagnant in the more traditional apartment rental units,” said Galvin.
“Some of these buildings with 20 units, 10 units, 18 units, elevators, parking, those kinds of things have drawn people in and have taken people who have been in traditional units to those units.”
How federal policies about international students might ripple into the citywide market is another open question at the moment.
MacKinnon said that listings she has in Fenway, for example, have been “more challenging to find tenants for. We think it’s because of the reduced capacity of international students coming into the area.”
Dillon noted she has no specific data on the matter yet but she observed that it seems like there is “a lot of inventory” in the Allston-Brighton area, where most students live. A quick survey of listings on Craigslist on Aug. 28 showed 170 apartments available in Allston-Brighton area, most with a Sept. 1 move-in date.
Some also had offerings of “two months of free rent” with a lease, which is typically a way for landlords to offer rent breaks without changing rental prices.
Said Maneikis: “I think Dorchester needs to continue to represent everyone, and I think overall it’s healthy, it’s strong, but it is going through a period of absorbing a lot of new product.”
