Rents in Boston Stabilize; NH Rents Stay High

Not long ago, renting an apartment in Boston was expensive, if you could find a place. But now, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board says the vacancy rate in the area has risen to 5 percent. Ed Shahanan, chief executive officer of the Board, says the market is back to normal.
29 122 the market has lost its fever pitch. And by fever pitch I mean essentially those cases where a tenant applicant would go out, and they?d have to make a decision on the spot, and write a check on the spot to cover first, last, security deposit and anything else the owner may have required. 29 145

Real estate professionals in Massachusetts say the housing market has eased a bit, both for rentals and single-family purchases. But they say prices aren?t going down, they simply aren?t rising as fast as before.
That slowdown in pricing has not shown up in New Hampshire, however. Ashton Welch, executive vice president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, says the state continues to have a very strong market.
03 ?we just barely finished our stats, and we?re very surprised to find first of all the average price is increasing, but the market is holding, and, we?re particularly interested in looking at the September figures, because of what happened in ny and Washington. 03 19

Other real estate professionals say the terrorist attacks of September 11th and an economic slowdown have not driven down the cost of rental housing in the state. Dean Christon, Deputy Director of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, says there?s been no decline because the supply of rental units has been tight for several years.
23 30 and frankly, our overall assessment of the market would be because there has been such a shortage of rental housing for quite a while, that it would take quite a bit of slowdown in demand, before you?re going to start seeing any kind of significant vacancy rates 23 47

Housing activists say the limited supply of affordable units has actually grown worse in the past several months, as layoffs and downsizing have dragged down incomes for more and more families. Anne Rugg, executive director of the Housing Partnership in Portsmouth says the shortage is especially hard on families with children.
37 if you need 3 bedrooms, you?re really at a disadvantage because that doesn?t exist very much in the marketplace. I think there are two bedrooms and one bedrooms advertised, but prices are astronomical and there isn?t enough supply.

High housing prices exist across southern New Hampshire. Builders say new housing has been expensive, because high land prices and the restrictive zoning have made these houses the only kind that can turn a profit.
Many developers and activists say New Hampshire communities need to change how they regulate real estate development before the shortage in housing can be addressed. Most of these people hold out little hope that the problem will be solved through current market forces, even if rents drop in Boston.