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Home // We need to talk about the rental market

We need to talk about the rental market

As you know, Kingston REM opened their doors in Coolidge Corner in October 2017 with a mission to earn your business and prove to be a valuable resource to you with all your real estate needs. For the purpose of this note, we’d like to discuss the rental market.

Supply vs Demand drives the market

The Boston-area rental market is currently in a state the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite some time. As we all know, the market is mostly a simple function of supply and demand. Due to the addition of thousands of new units added to the Greater Boston marketplace in the past 4 years, we are currently supply-heavy in a major way.

Most of the new units added to the marketplace have been luxury, high rise-style units

Even though you may not be in direct competition with them, they are affecting the market as a whole. The sheer volume of new units means that the luxury market is cannibalizing its own inventory. With this volume, comes incentivizing and discounting to the customer which could (and does) introduce a segment of the population one tier below who would otherwise be priced out of that particular marketplace. Once this starts to happen, there is a “trickling down” effect where inventory levels start to rise for all segments of the market which turns into more options available market-wide. Not only does this absorb a portion of the demographic who may otherwise be shopping for your apartment, it also raises the bar of quality which hasn’t been a focal point if you’ve enjoyed continued occupancy. Things like stone countertops and stainless steel appliances are becoming more and more, for lack of a better term, expected, rather than new features.

There will always be a huge demand for affordable apartments in the Boston area

For the Brighton/Brookline area, this means sub-$2000/mo. one beds, sub $2600/mo. 2 bed, etc. If you have that inventory, you may get away largely unaffected. Unfortunately, your rents may be technically below market value and it’s becoming less and less acceptable to have a unit that’s in sub-par condition regardless of the price. This could mean that even though your rents are low, you may still need invest in upgrades to the unit so it’s appealing to the marketplace and gets rented in a timely fashion.

Get a solution-based plan and prepare to be agile

Now, how do we weather this market? Contact us at Kingston REM and have one of our experienced agents visit your property and give you valuation complete with comparables of units on market and recently rented. Along with that, we will advise you of things that can be done and what we can do collectively to help drive traffic to your unit for maximum market exposure.

We can do this together. By using the tools available to communicate with the renting public and offering our clients the help and advice they need, we can stay ahead of the marketplace and keep your units rented with quality tenants at the highest market value. Be conscious of what’s happening and understand that you have an asset- an investment- one which is exposed and subject to market fluctuations. Team with a partner who has a plan to help and can deliver.

LET’S BE PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE.   

Adam Mundt
Broker//Owner
Kingston Real Estate & Management
[email protected]