Local News Average rent in the city now stands at $2,930, down from $3,054 a year earlier. "For Rent" sign viewed on September 12, 2025 in the Mission Hill area of Boston. (David L Ryan/ Boston Globe Staff)

Boston renters may be catching a bit of a break. The region has seen 13 consecutive months of year-over-year rent declines, according to Realtor.com data collected for the Boston Business Journal. The average rent in the city now stands at $2,930, down from $3,054 a year earlier.

The Business Journal reported that the slide comes down to basic supply and demand, according to Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com. Boston hasn’t kept pace with the level of homebuilding seen in Sun Belt cities and other faster-growing metros, but new construction has still been enough to loosen up the market: more than 37,000 units have been added in buildings with five or more units since 2021, per the publication. As a result, vacancy rates have climbed to 3.2%, up from 2.6% in 2022, Xu told the Business Journal.

That new supply is arriving just as demand lags. The Business Journal reported that a decline in international student enrollment and a softening labor market have both weighed on the rental market, even with rents still starting from a high baseline.

“Elevated rents combined with a cooling job market could push young professionals toward other, more affordable or job-rich metros,” Xu said, according to the Business Journal.

The Business Journal noted that Boston has one of the largest shares of international students of any major U.S. metro area, with about 11% of its student population coming from abroad. Xu said their absence can ripple outward, affecting industries that typically rely on the skilled workers those students become after graduation, per the publication.

The jobs picture has slowed as well. The Business Journal cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing employment across the Boston metro area down 2% over the past year, with statewide employment down a comparable 1.9%.

The trend isn’t confined to Boston. The Business Journal reported that asking rents across the nation’s 50 largest markets have fallen year-over-year for 35 straight months, according to Realtor.com. Xu attributed that broader shift to a surge in new apartment construction nationally, telling the Business Journal “the big-picture driver is the wave of new multifamily construction.”

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