Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

The fact that rents in the Greater Boston Area are expensive isn't news, but the rate at which rents are rising might be a bit of a surprise for those individuals comtemplating entering the real estate market as first-time home buyers. 

Rents in the Boston Area increased 5.5 percent in May 2013, increasing faster than all other metro areas tracked except Miami, according to a report release by real estate Web site Trulia. Miami rents increased 6.4 percent in May.

The Trulia Rent Monitor reported that Boston ranked fifth as the least affordable rental market of the 25 largest rental markets tracked. Trulia reported that Boston renters need 44 percent of their average monthly wage to pay rent. That is less than New York (58%), Miami (57%), Los Angeles (46%) and San Francisco (46%). 

The median rental price is more than $4,000 in Boston's Back Bay and surrounding neighborhoods for a two-bedroom apartment and between $1,500 and $2,000 in neighborhoods such as East Boston, Allston, Brighton and Mission Hill, according to Trulia data.