Apartment City

Everyone knows that Boston apartment rents are either steady or increasing (and, in the case of steady, that means not falling all that much). But the analyses that often paint this reality cull from both luxury apartment buildings and the region’s more utilitarian fare. A new report from real estate listings site Boston Pads seeks to separate the non-luxury apartments from the luxury spreads in amenity-laden buildings to provide a snapshot of how much it costs to rent your average one- or two-bedroom home. It turns out that even removing the luxury apartments means that tony Back Bay is the most expensive area for renting either a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom. And Quincy and Dorchester are the least expensive. The interactive map below gives a fuller snapshot, and includes vacancy rates by neighborhood and city or town. None of the vacancy rates are particularly beefy—some, like in Newton and Beacon Hill are ridiculously low—but that helps explain why rents remain relatively high...

When Amber and Lyle Drones were looking for a new apartment last summer, they wanted a pet-friendly place to accommodate Zarra, their 18-month-old Boston terrier-pug mix. After they scouted about 50 apartment complexes , the couple - both stationed at Fort Carson - settled on the Mesa Ridge Apartments in Fountain. It wasn't just the complex's proximity to the Army post. The Drones were especially attracted to Mesa Ridge because of two of its amenities: a dog park where Zarra can run and play with other dogs, and a pet "spa" - a free, fully equipped dog -washing area that's more convenient than a grooming salon and easier to use than one's own bathtub. "The newer apartments, they're all pretty evenly priced ," Amber said. "But those are two things that they offered that other apartment complexes didn 't. That set it apart for us. In our eyes, we were like, 'That's where we should go'. " Apartment amenities used to me...

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Seven years ago, Vila Autódromo was little more than a tranquil fishing village on the edge of Jacarepagua Lagoon, next to the racetrack for which it was named. Like the hundreds of other favelas that dot Rio de Janeiro ’s landscape, it had long been neglected by the city government , and it lacked many basic public services that are standard in the fast- growing wealthier neighborhoods just across the water. But to the more than 600 families that lived there, it was home. “This was a paradise,” said Luiz Cláudio Silva, who lived in Autódromo for more than 20 years. “I thought that I would live here for the rest of my life.” By the time the Rio Olympics are over, just 20 of the families who lived in Autódromo in 2009, the year the International Olympic Committee chose the city to host the games, will remain. The community, which sits less than a mile away from Rio’s Olympic Park, was crushed so that the city could build new access roads to connect Olympic venues . ...

NEW YORK, NY — It's one of the oldest rivalries in American migration: New York vs. Los Angeles. For the better part of a century, residents of the nation's two largest metro areas have been defending their chosen kingdom and dismissing the other on an endless loop of judginess between kitty-corner coasts. Ew, the traffic! But the sunshine! But the subway! But the garbage! But the skyline! But the coastline! But the bustle! But the chill! In this tireless war of words, a clear winner has yet to emerge. But it's harder to argue against the numbers. Thousands of working professionals have relocated to Los Angeles County from New York City in the past year and a half, according to a series of monthly "workforce reports" released this spring and summer by the job- networking site LinkedIn (and spotted by LA Weekly). And it's not exactly a two-way street. Since early 2016, according to LinkedIn, around seven or eight out of every 10, 000 site users in LA report...