Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

If the do-nothing landlord and the noisy neighbors weren't incentive enough, three straight years of rising rents in Boston have many renters weighing their first-time home buyer options.

For three straight years, rents in five of Boston’s student populated neighborhoods are rising while the vacancy rate has fallen below 2 percent, the Boston Business Journal reported July 19, 2013. Rental Beast, a Somerville-based real estate market tracker, compiled the data.

So far this year, the average rent for all apartments, regardless of size, in Allston, Brighton, the Fenway, Kenmore and Mission Hill is $2,954, up from $2,684 one year ago, a 10 percent increase. The biggest increase was in Allston where rents have soared by 17 percent to $2,553, up from $2,177. The Fenway saw rents rise by 5 percent. Rents rose 9.7 percent in Mission Hill, and Kenmore Square renters saw a 13.4 percent jump.

Other Boston neighborhoods are seeing similar rent increases too, and most new apartment construction is high end.  

With the vacancy rate so low, the upward trend is sure to continue over the next few years at least. The fact that Congress has never seemed too interested in eliminating or limiting the mortgage tax deduction and local real estate taxes also are tax deductible are factors that add to the financial appeal of homeownership, encouraging potential Boston first-time home buyers to consider their home-buying options. 

Homes in the greater Boston area certainly are not cheap, but first-time home buyers are sometimes quite surprise by what they can buy within 45 minutes of the city for a little more (and sometimes less) than the rent they're presently paying.

Trulia has a rent v. buy calculator to help you figure out whether renting or buying is a better option. For the week ending August 8, 2013, the U.S. average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage stood at 4.40 percent.  

The Fenway is the highest priced neighborhood of the above-mentioned areas with average rents at $3,273, up from $3,112 in the first half of 2012. Brighton was the only neighborhood where rents fell slightly this year (nearly 2 percent) to $2,391, down from $2,433 in 2012.