It’s gotten more expensive to rent near major Boston transit hubs

It is getting more expensive to rent near Boston’s major transportation hubs, including South Station, North Station, and Government Center.

That is according to an analysis from research and listings site RENTCafe, which analyzed rents as of October on available units in buildings with at least 50 apartments and compared those figures with rents from the same month in 2018. The units analyzed were within half-mile radiuses of the stations.

Not surprisingly—given the expensiveness of the overall Boston rental market—average rents were up around all five hubs tracked.

The average rent in larger buildings a half-mile from South Station was up 4.7 percent annually, to $3,886 a month, and the average near North Station was up an identical percentage, to $3,618. The average around Back Bay Station was up 2.6 percent, to $4,167, and the average around Government Center was up 5.1 percent, to $3,653. The average near Copley Place was up 3 percent, to $4,256 a month.

To put things in further perspective, the average apartment rent in larger buildings for all of Boston stood at $3,429 as of October, according to RENTCafe. The averages around the transit hubs, then, all bested the city’s overall mean.

The stats are another reminder of how costly the Boston rental scene is for tenants—a trend likely to continue through 2020—and how in demand units nearer to mass transit can be. After all, such proximity is often a deciding factor for tenants when they’re choosing where to live. Previous studies have shown that staying on the T for even one or two more stops can lead to significantly lower rents.

But who wants to willingly do that when the T faces so many challenges, including delays and breakdowns?