Boston-area apartment rents heading into 2019 show dramatic jumps in Waltham

Median rents for one- and two-bedroom apartments in Waltham jumped by double-digit percentages from December 2017 to December 2018, the most sizable leaps seen in any of the 16 municipalities that real estate listings site Zumper tracked in its latest report.

The median one-bedroom rent in Waltham was up 16 percent annually, to $2,180, in December. The median two-bedroom rent was up 15.9 percent, $2,550.

The increases are likely due in part to rent increases in Waltham’s eastern neighbors, which have pushed tenants to look farther afield from core commercial areas such as downtown Boston and Kendall Square.

The same Zumper report showed year-over-year increases in the median one-bedroom rents of Cambridge, Boston, and Brookline—the three most expensive of the 16 locales tracked. Two-bedroom medians were either up or largely flat year-over-year in all three.

Medford, Quincy, Fall River, and Worcester also saw sizable annual increases in their median one- or two-bedroom rents. See the chart below for a further breakdown. The Zumper reports are a pretty good snapshot of the market because they track vacant and available units.