Rents Skyrocket In Boston Area

BOSTON (CBS) - There's no better time for people looking to buy a home.

But it's getting tougher if you're looking to rent.

The average rent has shot up 9.3 percent in the past year.

The Boston-area's spike in rental prices was the second highest in the country, behind only San Francisco's 17.5 percent rise in rents last year, according to survey data from Axiometrics and PPR, a CoStar Co.

Rents are high because home sales continue to slump and the Boston areas's vacancy rate of 4.3 percent was the second lowest in the country last year behind only new York.

The average rent in the Boston area last year was a little more than $1,900, according to the survey.

Locally developers are scrambling to take advantage of the current apartment rental market.

There are currently thousands of apartment units either being built or in the planning stages in the city of Boston.

Watch Lisa's report:

Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal can be seen weekdays at 6 a.m. on WBZ-TV.

You can follow Lisa on Twitter at @lvanderpool.