Boston among top U.S. cities for affluent renters, report says

Boston’s notoriously expensive rental market has made the city fertile ground for what a new report describes as a relatively new breed of tenants: Those households making at least $150,000 a year.

Boston had 19,200 such households as of 2017—the 10th most of any major U.S. city—according to real estate research and listing site RENTCafe.

What’s more, affluent renters occupy 11 percent of Boston’s rental stock. Only in New York is that figure higher.

As you might expect, this high number of relatively well-off tenant households has something to do with Boston’s for-sale market, which is also cartoonishly expensive. Even more well-heeled can’t buy in, so they rent instead.

And rent and rent ... The number of affluent renter households in Boston bounced 182 percent between 2007 and 2017, while the number of homes owned by households pulling in at least $150,000 increased 83 percent, according to the RENTCafe report.

Boston’s trends, too, mirror the national ones. What’re you seeing?

• Boston housing prices: Why they’re so high [Curbed Boston]
• Boston apartment rents: Why they’re so high [Curbed Boston]