Somerville MA Apartment Rental Market Report

Somerville is widely considered to be one of Boston’s premier rental markets. Its proximity to Downtown Boston and local schools makes it an ideal place for renter's to avoid the exorbitant lease prices in the city. Logic would tell you that Somerville would have experienced much of the same supply turmoil as other premium rental markets during the pandemic, but in this case logic would be wrong. Somerville apartments have maintained a lower than average vacancy rate through most of the last 18 months while vacancies soared in Cambridge and Brookline.

The current vacancy rate in Somerville is 1.03%, the 4th lowest apartment vacancy rate among the 14 suburbs nearest to Boston. That is nearly 33% lower than Greater Boston’s vacancy rate of 1.48%. The state of the rental market looks strong compared to August 2020, as the Somerville vacancy rate has dropped by -29.45% YOY.

Average Rent Prices in Somerville MA

The average rent price in Somerville is $2,455. That makes Somerville the 3rd most expensive suburb to rent an apartment in Boston behind Brookline ($2,701) and Cambridge ($2,758). Rent prices have slipped in Somerville by a small margin (-3.34%) compared to this time last year, but prices have been back on the incline since schools reopened to students.

1 Bedroom Average Rent Price: $2,004
2 Bedroom Average Rent Price: $2,382
3 Bedroom Average Rent Price: $2,980

The fact that Somerville was able to avoid the supply carnage is an illustration of the shift in renter demand in Boston. When vacancy’s soared in Downtown neighborhoods due to remote work, many of Boston’s young professionals ditched their cramped downtown apartments for more spacious digs out in the burbs. Somerville no doubt benefited from that trend, and is now looking at a quickly shrinking vacancy rate with much of the Tufts rental season ahead of them. Look for Somerville prices to raise sharply in 2022 as a result.