The short version is this. A two bedroom in Belmont rents for a median of $3,000 and takes 24 days, based on 48 rentals that closed in the six months ending 26 August 2026. Plan on about $6,300 in cash to move in. And demand right now is the strongest of any town I track: 77 percent of Belmont rentals over the last six months went at or above the original asking price.
Here's the thing to understand about Belmont before any of the numbers: it's a small, family shaped rental market. The whole town closes about 200 rentals a year, four out of five of them are two and three bedrooms, and in 25 months of data there was not one studio and barely a dozen one bedrooms. If you want a small cheap unit, Belmont mostly doesn't make one. I pulled every closed Belmont rental in the MLS, 420 of them, and ran the numbers myself. Updated monthly, and the other towns I cover are at the markets page.
These are rented prices, not asking prices. What tenants signed for, not what landlords hoped for. Three windows because the short one is current and the long one is stable. Belmont is a small market, so more cells fall below my ten rental minimum here than in bigger towns; where they do, I leave them blank rather than pretend.
| Bedrooms | Last 3 months | Last 6 months | Last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | none closed | none closed | none closed |
| 1 bedroom | too few | too few | too few |
| 2 bedroom | $3,000 (26) | $3,000 (48) | $2,825 (80) |
| 3 bedroom | $3,900 (25) | $3,925 (42) | $3,850 (65) |
| 4 bedroom | too few | $5,800 (13) | $5,150 (24) |
| All rentals | $3,450 (64) | $3,400 (111) | $3,250 (184) |
Medians. Number of closed rentals in parentheses. Windows end 26 August 2026. Worth noticing: the two bedroom median is $175 higher in the recent six months than across the full year, which says the market firmed up through 2026. Belmont closed exactly zero studios in 25 months and only 15 one bedrooms, so those rows will probably always be blank here.
| Type | 2br median | 2br days | 3br median | 3br days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment | $2,850 (135) | 25 | $3,300 (70) | 26 |
| Condo | $3,050 (39) | 25 | $3,600 (31) | 22 |
| Townhouse or duplex | $2,800 (17) | 26 | $3,900 (21) | 34 |
| Single family | too few | too few | $5,200 (26) | 20 |
Full 25 month period. The spread on a three bedroom is the story: $3,300 in a two family, $5,200 for a single family house, nearly $2,000 a month for the same bedroom count. In Belmont you're not renting bedrooms, you're renting either half a house or the whole one, and the whole one rents in 20 days.
Priced right: 18 days. Overpriced: 46 days, and a $200 cut anyway.
420 closed Belmont rentals, 25 months
The median Belmont rental takes 27 days. Thirteen percent rent within a week, and just under a third are gone inside two weeks. Over the full period 59 percent went at exactly the original ask, and in the last six months the at or above figure hit 77 percent, the highest I've measured anywhere.
The overpricing math is the same as every town I track, and Belmont landlords should tape it to the fridge: at or above ask rents in 18 days, cutting takes 46 and gives up a median $200 a month anyway. In a market where three quarters of units go at ask, a unit that sits is almost always a unit that was priced wrong on day one.
| Time on market | Share |
|---|---|
| Under a week | 13% |
| 8 to 14 days | 16% |
| 15 to 30 days | 25% |
| 31 to 60 days | 30% |
| 61 to 90 days | 10% |
| More than 90 days | 7% |
All 420 rentals, 25 months.
About $6,300 for a typical two bedroom.
A little over twice one month of rent. 191 two bedroom rentals.
For a Belmont two bedroom:
So a $3,000 apartment realistically needs $6,300 in the bank to sign. That's gentler than Newton next door, where the same figure runs $7,400, and about even with Watertown. If that shapes your search, better to know now. Reach out and I'll send you what I currently have available.
Every feature below is compared within the same bedroom count, so a two bedroom is only measured against another two bedroom, and any comparison with fewer than ten rentals on either side gets thrown out. Belmont's market is small, so several of these rest on one or two bedroom counts rather than four; treat them as directional and watch them tighten as the months accumulate.
| Feature | Share of rentals | Rent difference | Speed difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| A half bath | 18% | +$1,000 | no clear effect |
| Private outdoor space | 27% | +$700 | 3 days faster |
| Laundry in the unit | 54% | +$600 | 5 days faster |
| Second full bathroom | 27% | +$575 | no clear effect |
| Air conditioning | 56% | +$550 | 12 days faster |
| Fireplace | 43% | +$550 | 6 days faster |
| Garage parking | 53% | +$475 | 6 days faster |
| Shared laundry only, none in the unit | 44% | $400 less | 7 days slower |
| Built before 1940 | 78% | $650 less | 6 days faster |
| Pets allowed | 59% | +$200 | 4 days faster |
| Second parking space | 67% | about $150 | no clear effect |
| Walking distance to a T stop | 45% | no clear effect | 6 days faster |
Median differences within bedroom count. The bottom rows stay in on purpose. A report that finds a premium on every feature is a report you shouldn't trust.
The Belmont line is air conditioning. Worth about $550 a month and twelve days of market time, the biggest speed effect of any feature in any town I've run. Here's why that matters: 78 percent of Belmont's rental stock was built before 1940, the oldest of any town I track, which means nearly half of it still has no AC. A landlord putting mini splits into an older two family is buying both the rent bump and a unit that leases in half the time.
Also worth saying plainly: heat included barely exists here. So few Belmont landlords include heat that the sample doesn't even clear my minimum to measure it. In those pre war two families the utilities are almost always yours, so budget accordingly.
Those numbers describe what a unit was listed with, not what I verified in person. Agents who fill out listings carefully also tend to be marketing better units, so part of what any feature appears to be worth is really the value of a better building and a better listing. The bathroom, fireplace, garage and year built rows rest on hard structural fields and are the most reliable. The amenity checkboxes are directional, especially in a market this size.
Late summer is the volume season, with August closing the most rentals by far, but the fastest deals happen in spring: April rentals went in a median of 14 days, the quickest month in any town I cover. The slow season is November and December at six weeks plus. Belmont's monthly samples are small, so read the exact day counts loosely, but the shape is the same one I find everywhere: list in spring or summer, and never let a lease end in November.
| Month | Rentals closed | Median days to rent |
|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 36 |
| February | 12 | 32 |
| March | 23 | 25 |
| April | 33 | 14 |
| May | 48 | 24 |
| June | 39 | 18 |
| July | 56 | 20 |
| August | 68 | 30 |
| September | 47 | 35 |
| October | 28 | 34 |
| November | 20 | 42 |
| December | 26 | 45 |
Two years pooled, 420 rentals. Small monthly samples, so treat the pattern as solid and the individual day counts as approximate.
| Bedrooms | Median size | Rent per square foot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 bedroom | 800 sqft | $2.75 |
| 2 bedroom | 1,158 sqft | $2.55 |
| 3 bedroom | 1,500 sqft | $2.56 |
| 4 bedroom | 2,100 sqft | $2.38 |
| 5 bedroom | 3,168 sqft | $2.07 |
Here's a Belmont oddity: the per foot rate barely drops from a two bedroom to a three, $2.55 against $2.56. In most towns the third bedroom comes at a discount per foot. In Belmont it doesn't, because the three bedroom is the unit everyone is competing for. Square footage comes from the listing agent and is approximate.
Up, modestly, with the family sized homes leading. The all bedroom median went from $3,200 to $3,250 year over year, up 1.6 percent. Three bedrooms rose 5.5 percent. Two bedrooms show a 2.6 percent dip on the annual comparison, but the recent six month median sits at $3,000 against $2,825 for the trailing year, which says the two bedroom softness was early in the year and has already firmed.
The same unit check agrees on direction: across 23 Belmont units that rented twice at least six months apart, the median change was up 4.6 percent, with thirteen up, six flat and four down. Twenty three pairs is a modest sample, so I'd call the honest summary this: Belmont rents are drifting up, low single digits, with three bedrooms strongest.
| Bedrooms | 12mo to Aug 2025 | 12mo to Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 bedroom | $2,900 (103) | $2,825 (80) | down 2.6% |
| 3 bedroom | $3,650 (72) | $3,850 (65) | up 5.5% |
| 4 bedroom | $5,600 (23) | $5,150 (24) | down 8.0% |
| All rentals | $3,200 (211) | $3,250 (184) | up 1.6% |
| Same unit, rented twice | 23 matched pairs | up 4.6% | |
The four bedroom swing rests on 23 and 24 closings, which in a market this size is weather, not climate. One and five bedrooms had too few closings to show.
| Included | Share of rentals |
|---|---|
| Water | 57% |
| Parking | 52% |
| Sewer | 51% |
| Grounds maintenance | 42% |
| Trash | 35% |
| Laundry facilities | 31% |
| Extra storage | 27% |
| Snow removal | 18% |
Heat doesn't make this list because almost nobody in Belmont includes it. Plan on paying every utility yourself, and in a drafty pre war two family, plan on it seriously.
Own a rental in Belmont? These are the numbers I price units with every week. If you want to know what yours should rent for, send me the address and what it last rented at, and I'll tell you what I'd list it for and how long I think it takes. No charge and no pressure, it's a five minute exercise for me.
Renting instead? Get in touch and I'll send you what I have available, and here's my general guide to Belmont if you're new to the area.
Source. Every figure on this page is calculated from closed rental transactions recorded in MLS Property Information Network: 420 Belmont rentals settled between 26 July 2024 and 26 August 2026. These are rents tenants actually signed, not asking prices.
Method. Medians, not averages. Time on market is the MLS days on market field. Any figure resting on fewer than ten rentals gets left out entirely, which happens more often here than in my bigger towns because Belmont closes about 200 rentals a year.
What's approximate. Square footage, amenities and included utilities are entered by listing agents and aren't independently verified. August 2026 is partial, through the 26th.
Corrections. If you find an error, tell me. I'll fix it and note it in the log below. That's the deal.
Based on information provided to and compiled by MLS Property Information Network, Inc. covering the period 26 July 2024 through 26 August 2026.