All Eyes on the Spring Semester as Allston Apartment Vacancies Skyrocket

It’s been several months since the start of the fall semester in Boston, a time when usually the city sees an invasion of students from across the world. However, in 2020 most of the area’s universities have adopted a remote learning model that severely limited the number of students moving into the area in August and September. This has caused a major disruption in the local rental market, as vacancy rates are up 423% year over year in the City of Boston.

This sharp increase in vacant inventory has been felt by some neighborhoods more than others, particularly those located close to downtown or nearby local universities. Allston definitely falls in the latter category as it borders Boston University and is in close proximity to Northeastern and the colleges of the Fens.

The current vacancy rate in Allston is 10.08%, a shocking 851% increase from November 2019. That is the 4th highest vacancy rate out of the 25 neighborhoods that make up Boston, behind only Symphony/Northeastern, North End and Fenway. It’s 851% increase is the 3rd biggest year over year lift in vacancy rate, behind only Beacon Hill.

By looking at the other areas on the list, it’s easy to see how dependent the local rental market is on the student population. The reduction in student population has had the biggest impact on the areas closest to the Universities, so is should come as no surprise that landlords are eagerly looking towards the springs semester to see if relief is in sight.

If a good portion of the local universities extend remote learning into the spring semester, it will mean little relief is in sight for the local apartment rental market. Prices have remained steady in Boston despite such a drastic increase in vacancies, which indicates that many landlords may be waiting for spring to determine whether or not to slash prices.

Landlords can only have so much patience, and having a unit empty for more than 3 months is quite a hit to ROI. For that reason, we predict that prices will start to decline more rapidly in December and January if local schools extend remote learning into the spring semester. We will continue to monitor this situation as that date approaches.