How Is the Greater Boston Rental Market Doing in 2026? June Data & Landlord Insights

Your monthly guide to rental conditions in Boston Metro. This is our July 2026 report, covering June 2026 rental data: what rents looked like last month, what's driving the market, and what it means if you own a rental home.

Boston Metro Rental Market Snapshot — June 2026

Here's where Boston Metro rents stand as of June 2026, across all property types — apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes.

The Boston Metro median rent hit $3,304 in June 2026, up 0.81% year-over-year, with homes averaging 33 days on market. Rent growth is modest and leasing is measured, so pricing accurately from day one matters more than holding out for top dollar.

Source: Doorstead market data, aggregated from public records and online rental listings, all rental property types, June 2026.

What's Driving Boston Metro Rental Market Conditions Right Now

Boston Metro Rental Supply and New Construction

Boston's housing pipeline has nearly dried up across every property type. The city issued permits for just 432 units in Q1 2026, down from 549 a year earlier and 642 the year before that, putting Boston on pace for its slowest construction year since 2010. Large multifamily projects have taken the steepest cuts, with metro-wide permitting already running 44% below 2021 levels — a few projects like the 240-unit Modera Allston and the 266-unit Bunker Hill complex in Charlestown are still moving forward, but they won't come close to offsetting the overall shortfall across apartments, condos, and single-family rentals alike.

Why People Rent in Boston Metro

Boston's universities, hospitals, and research institutions create a demand engine that other metros simply don't have. More than 65% of leases in Boston and Brookline start on September 1st, as students, medical residents, and young professionals all chase the same inventory at once, pushing the best units off the market within hours. Buying remains out of reach for most of them with the 30-year mortgage rate sitting at 6.49% and the median rent at $3,304, so renting stays the only practical option. Somerville is posting +2.1% YoY rent growth and Brookline is running at +3.4% YoY, both outperforming the broader metro and confirming that demand in transit-connected, institution-adjacent neighborhoods stays strong even when the overall market softens.

What This Means for Boston Metro Landlords

If your unit is vacant right now, price it to lease before August 1st, when the new broker fee law kicks in and shifts more leasing cost onto landlords who initiated the broker relationship. The September 1st surge is six to eight weeks out, so anything sitting empty today either needs a sharper price or a faster marketing push, Burlington is clearing in 12 days and Waltham in 16, which shows the I-95/Route 128 corridor is absorbing renters quickly, while properties farther from transit or in suburban markets with weaker institutional anchors are taking longer to fill.

Boston Metro Rent by City — June 2026

Burlington leads the Boston Metro in leasing speed at just 10 days on market, with Waltham (20 days) and Woburn (25 days) also pulling well ahead of the pack. At the other end of the table, Brookline is the softest market at 46 days, followed closely by Boston and Cambridge, both sitting at 43 days. Most cities are clustering in the 30-to-40-day range, so Burlington and Waltham stand out as clear outliers where units are moving fast.

• Boston, MA: Students, medical residents, and young professionals converge here every September 1st, with Allston-Brighton and Fenway-Kenmore drawing the bulk of that demand. At $3,800 median rent and 43 days on market, Boston is moving slower than the suburban corridor and rents are down 5.7% year-over-year, so price your unit competitively now before the September surge compresses your leverage.

• Cambridge, MA: Home to Harvard and MIT, Cambridge draws graduate students, researchers, and faculty year-round, keeping demand structurally elevated. Rent sits at $3,477 with a 43-day median DOM, and while MoM is essentially flat, the 1.5% YoY gain shows prices are quietly holding ground even as the broader metro softens.

• Somerville, MA: Davis Square and Union Square pull renters priced out of Cambridge, with Red Line access to Harvard, MIT, and downtown making it a natural landing spot for young professionals. At $3,603 median and 6.9% YoY growth, Somerville is one of the stronger appreciating cities in the metro right now, though 39 days on market means you still need to price sharply to avoid sitting.

• Brookline, MA: Brookline's top-ranked public schools and tight, high-quality inventory keep it insulated from the metro's broader softness. Median rent of $3,987 is the highest in this table, up 7.2% year-over-year, and while 46 days on market is on the slower end, that reflects a deliberate renter pool willing to wait for the right unit rather than weakening demand.

• Newton, MA: At $3,801 median rent and 38 days on market, Newton is leasing at a reasonable pace with rents up 2.1% year-over-year. Month-over-month is flat, but the YoY gain shows this suburban market is holding value as renters trade urban density for more space.

• Watertown, MA: Median rent of $3,100 and 36 days on market put Watertown in the middle of the pack on both price and velocity. The 2.6% YoY gain is steady, and flat MoM suggests rents have found a stable floor heading into the summer leasing window.

• Arlington, MA: At $3,000 median rent, Arlington is one of the more affordable inner-ring suburbs in the table. The 31-day DOM and 4.3% YoY rent growth both point to a market where demand is outpacing supply, so owners here have real pricing power going into the fall cycle.

• Medford, MA: Median rent of $3,400 and 36 days on market land Medford in the mid-tier on both metrics. The 3.2% YoY gain is healthy, and flat MoM suggests the market is stable rather than overheating, which typically means well-priced units lease on schedule without extended vacancies.

• Waltham, MA: Waltham sits on the I-95/Route 128 tech corridor and draws professionals working at the biotech and defense firms clustered nearby. At 20 days on market, it's one of the fastest-leasing cities in the metro, which makes the 4.4% YoY rent dip notable: demand is clearly there, so that softening likely reflects newer inventory adding downward pressure rather than renter pullback.

• Quincy, MA: At $2,550 median rent, Quincy is the most affordable city in this table and serves as a value alternative for renters stretched by Boston prices. The 33-day DOM is respectable, but the 2.7% YoY decline and flat MoM suggest pricing pressure that isn't letting up, so owners should resist holding firm on last year's rent numbers.

• Needham, MA: Median rent of $3,718 and 28 days on market put Needham among the faster-moving suburban markets. Year-over-year rent is essentially unchanged at +0.1%, but the leasing speed shows demand is consistent and tenants are making decisions quickly when units are priced right.

• Woburn, MA: At $2,845 median rent and 25 days on market, Woburn leases faster than most cities in this table. The slight MoM dip of 0.2% and 1.5% YoY decline are modest, and the quick velocity suggests tenants are still showing up, just with a little more bargaining power than a year ago.

• Burlington, MA: Burlington leads the entire Boston metro for leasing speed at just 10 days on market, and that gap over every other city here is significant. Median rent of $3,228 is up 1.2% year-over-year and flat month-over-month, so this is a market where demand is absorbing supply fast and landlords who price accurately don't wait long for a signed lease.

• Malden, MA: At $2,690 median rent and 37 days on market, Malden sits at the affordable end of the inner-ring suburban tier. The 3.6% YoY decline and slight MoM dip of 0.2% both point to a market where tenants have options and are using them, so overpricing carries a real vacancy risk heading into the fall.

Boston Metro Rent by Bedroom Count and Property Type — June 2026

Rent by Bedroom Count in Boston Metro

Rents across the Boston metro climb steadily with each bedroom added, but the jumps are not uniform. Studios median at $2,316, and each step up through 3-bedrooms adds roughly $430–$633: $2,749 for a 1-bedroom, $3,374 for a 2-bedroom, and $4,007 for a 3-bedroom. The 4-bedroom tier breaks that pattern sharply, jumping $943 to $4,950, nearly half again as large as any other step-up in the table. Owners with larger homes can command a significant premium, but they are pricing into a narrower pool of renters who can absorb that cost.

Rent by Property Type in Boston Metro

Single-family homes command the strongest premium in the Boston metro, with a median rent of $4,231, which is $927 (28.1%) above the blended median of $3,304, and they lease fastest at just 25 days on market. Condos sit close to the blended median at $3,350, a modest $46 premium, while apartments come in below it at $3,161, a $143 discount. Townhouses present the most striking tradeoff: a $3,937 median rent that's $633 (19.2%) above the blended figure, yet they sit on market for 65 days, more than double the single-family pace. If you own a townhouse, expect to price carefully or plan for a longer lease-up window.

Data Sources & Methodology

• Rental market data: Median rents, days on market, listing counts, and rent change figures. Sourced from county public records, deed and tax assessor data, and rental listings on publicly accessible platforms.
• Doorstead Platform Data: Internal leasing outcomes from Doorstead-managed single-family homes, including days to lease. Boston, MA, trailing 12 months.

Data refreshed monthly. Doorstead benchmarks reflect managed properties only and may not be representative of the broader Boston, MA rental market.

City-Level Rental Market Reports

• Boston Rental Market Report