After both rents and occupancy contracted last winter, the Baltimore multifamily market is recalibrating and returning to a healthier pace, with rates on an upswing and occupancy picking up slightly. The average rent was up 50 basis points on a trailing three-month basis through June, while occupancy in stabilized assets slid 1.0 percent over 12 months, improving from the 1.4 percent recorded in February.
The metro added 31,300 jobs in the 12 months ending in April, marking a 1.2 percent expansion. Like Washington, D.C., Baltimore benefited from a gentler economic shakeup at the height of the pandemic, compared to other coastal markets, which has helped the city’s recovery. The area’s unemployment clocked in at 2.2 percent as of May, down 150 basis points in 12 months. Large projects such as Baltimore Peninsula and Tradepoint Atlantic are moving forward, while the $200 million renovation of CFG Bank Arena was completed.
A total of $235 million in rental communities traded in the first half of 2023 in Baltimore, 78.6 percent less than the volume for the same period last year, when $1.1 billion worth of assets changed hands. Meanwhile, completions increased sharply, with 1,275 units delivered this year through June, 22 percent more than the 996 completed in 2022. A total of 12 projects broke ground, comprising 2,346 units. This marked a significant jump from 2022, when work began on only 630 apartments in the same time frame.
Read the full Yardi Matrix report.
