Baltimore fundamentals continued to soften, closing a year of moderate performance. Year-over-year, rents grew 0.6 percent as of October, to $1,685, 20 basis points above the U.S. rate and marking a sharp deceleration from just 12 months earlier. Overall occupancy was down 60 basis points, to 94.9 percent as of September.
The metro’s unemployment rate was a very tight 1.9 percent as of September, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with economic growth slow but steady throughout the year. Baltimore’s workforce expanded by 1.4 percent through August, amounting to 30,900 net jobs gained on a 12-month basis. Growth by sector was a mixed bag, with the largest gains in education and health services (up 13,600 positions), while trade, transportation and utilities recorded the biggest decline (4,100 jobs). Baltimore’s long-term economic growth received a boost after the city was designated a federal tech hub earlier in 2023. This allows the city to compete for a portion of $10 billion of federal economic development funds.
Construction activity remained in line with historic averages, as the metro recorded 5,277 units under construction as of October, along with an additional 41,000 units in the planning and permitting stages. Baltimore developers completed 2,725 units through the first 10 months of 2023, nearly triple the 996 apartments delivered in 2022, a year that stood out as an outlier in the past decade because of its negative development growth.
Read the full Yardi Matrix report.
