Brookline Apartment Average Rent Prices

Brookline’s apartment rental market experienced a turbulent year to say the least in 2020. Remote learning led to widespread vacancies, which affected Boston’s best suburbs more harshly than others. Average rent price fell at a larger margin in Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville than it did for the City of Boston. Despite these price drops, Brookline apartments are still among the most expensive in Boston’s suburbs.

The average rent in Brookline, MA is currently $2,705, which ranks as the second most expensive average rent price behind Cambridge ($2,755). It costs $2,143 to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in Brookline, while a 2 bedroom apartment costs 2,611 on average. Both of these prices rank 2nd highest among all 14 suburbs in Metro Boston. Brookline's average rent of $2,705 is almost 10% higher than the average rent for Boston apartments.

A closer inspection of the per unit data of Brookline suggests that renting a smaller apartment in Brookline is more cost effective than larger units. The prices for studios, 1 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms all fall to within 10% of the price for all Boston suburbs, where as 3 and 4 bedroom apartments are 10-15% more expensive than other suburbs combined.

YOY Changes in Brookline Apartment Prices

Brookline’s average rent price have decreased at a larger margin when compared to other suburbs. In Brookline, average rent went down by -6.55% compared to just -4.35% in Boston’s suburbs and -4.67% in the City of Boston. That 6.55% declined marked the 3rd highest drop in average rent out of all 14 of Boston suburbs, behind only Newton (-10.80%) and Belmont (-11.33%).

These price reductions were a direct result of soaring vacancies related to the pandemic, and in particular remote learning. Brookline’s apartment rental market is heavily dependent on demand for off campus housing near Boston College, so remote learning policies had an devastating affect on rental supply and consequently apartment prices.

Now that remote learning has been phased down for Fall 2021 at Boston College, rental demand has been restored to Brookline, and prices are back on an upward trend. Look for apartment prices in Brookline to be up YOY by December when apartment availability hits its cyclical low.