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For Boston renters’ next crib, Manchester, N.H., makes the shortlist
Manchester, N.H., broke into the top three cities that Boston renters are eying, bumping New York, according to Apartment List’s 2024 Renter Migration Report.
Some Boston renters are eyeing the Queen City for relief.
Manchester, N.H., broke into the top three cities that Boston renters searched in 2024, bumping New York, according to Apartment List’s Renter Migration Report. Providence and Worcester took the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively.
To Jay Ruais, the city’s newly elected mayor, it’s no surprise.
“I think Manchester is a city filled with an incredible amount of promise and potential,” Ruais told Boston.com Wednesday. “We have an awful lot of great accommodations within the city.”
Without income or sales taxes, the city is a “haven” for individuals searching for a lower cost of living, Ruais said. The average rent of a one-bedroom apartment is $2,900 in Boston but $1,700 in Manchester, according to ApartmentAdvisor.
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According to the Apartment List’s report, 36% of metro Boston apartment hunters were searching for listings in other cities. That’s down from the 37% of prospective renters looking at rentals outside Boston reported last year.
Prospective renters across the country narrowed their search in the past year, said Rob Warnock, a senior research associate at Apartment List. And Boston’s outbound migration network stayed “relatively contained,” Warnock said.
Outbound searches
| RANK | CITY | % |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Providence | 11.3% |
| 2. | Worcester | 7.4% |
| 3. | Manchester, N.H. | 5.6% |
Last year, only 3.8% of outbound searches were for the New Hampshire city.
In recent years, apartment hunters have looked toward places with lower costs of living, Warnock said, and for Boston renters, that means eyeing cities such as Providence and Manchester, N.H.
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“At a time when rents have gotten really expensive, and inflation has gotten much worse, personal living expenses are front of mind and a major concern for the average American consumer,” Warnock said. “Then, naturally, your biggest expense, right, the cost of where you live, is something you’re going to look to mitigate.”
For New York renters, Boston may offer some relief, Warnock said.
Inbound searches
| RANK | CITY | % |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | New York City | 12.4% |
| 2. | Worcester | 5.9% |
| 3. | Providence | 5.8% |
Last year, only 11.2% of inbound searches were from New York.
In the past year, the rental market has faced lower demand, Warnock said, while supply has benefited from the completion of construction held up during the pandemic, Warnock said.
“We’re going to continue to see a lot of this strong supply growth that’s going to take some of the pressure off of rents,” Warnock said, “as it’s occurring at a time when housing demand is like relatively tepid.”
Trends will vary by region, Warnock said, but construction rates are high in all parts of the country, including the Northeast. Manchester will see a lot of growth over the next decade, he said.
“In my inaugural address, I said that the goal for the City of Manchester should be to be the best … midsize city in the United States of America,” Ruais said. “So moving forward, my goal is to continue to make improvements throughout the city and continue to see the growth that we’ve had tackling, you know, some of the challenges that all cities are dealing with right now and to make Manchester even more impressive going forward.”
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