Baltimore Housing Market Forecast for 2024
2024 Baltimore Housing Market Forecast
The in-house article you all have been waiting for is here! This is the 2024 housing market outlook for the Baltimore area based off of our expertise and research! With all that said, we have been through a lot in 2023. Whether it was interest rates soaring to the highest they have been in over 20 years or the extremely limited housing supply, it seemed as though it was never going to get better. However, we started to see rates start to decrease as we approached 2024 and even though the housing market is not going back to pre-COVID conditions anytime soon, things are indeed starting to look slightly better.
Baltimore's Home Buying/Selling Market
Baltimore has a great ratio of people who desire to live there vs cost of an average property in the area. Additionally, despite the spike in interest rates the Baltimore real estate market is always growing. According to the data by Bright MLS, the standout feature of the Baltimore Metro Area market in November was the remarkable surge in prices, marking the fastest growth since May 2022. This significant development underscores the resilience and vitality of the local real estate sector. In fact the median price has increased tremendously over the years and is still increasing on a month-to-month basis. According to Norada Real Estate Investments, the median sold price in November reached an impressive $369,250, reflecting a substantial 8.9% increase compared to the same period a year ago. Additionally, there was a marginal 0.1% uptick in prices from October to November, indicating sustained positive momentum in the market. Despite this increase in home values investors are buying up properties left and right. Similarly to the Philadelphia housing market the inventory of homes available is low while the amount of days those homes stay on the market has decreased as well. According to Norada Real Estate Investments, remarkable efficiency in the selling process, being two days faster than the same period in the previous year (median days being 11) as well as a 1.6% decrease from the previous year and less than half of the inventory available in 2019. Lastly, as with almost all areas in the US, home builder sentiment is down due to the high prices on both materials and homes, so it is no wonder that "flipping" has been preferred in Baltimore over building from the ground up for 2023.
Baltimore's Renters Market
The renter's market is strong in Baltimore, in fact 51% of households in Baltimore are renter occupied, which is higher than the national average of 36% for renter-occupied housing. This indicates that a small majority of the cities population elects to rent instead of buy. Additionally, with the high interest rates, higher than average home prices (The median rent in Baltimore is $1,785 per month), and the average price-to-rent ratio is 17.3 which indicates a market that still prefers renting over buying! As a renter this definitely indicates that currently it makes sense to keep renting, while as a property owner you know that you have a rental property in a strong market.
Baltimore's Housing Market Outlook for 2024
The Baltimore area is filled with tons of businesses, schools, and hospitals and it takes a steady population to make sure everything is running smoothly. That is why it is no surprise that the population has slightly increased over the past years and looks to stay on that trend going forward. Furthermore, according to Real Wealth, Baltimore created 53,900 new jobs, this was a growth rate of 3.98 percent, which was 3.59 percent greater than the national average job growth rate of 3.84 percent.
Buyer's and Seller's Forecast
With Baltimore being primarily a renters market at the moment sellers might want to retain the properties and try to rent them out so you can keep your asset but also make some money off of it. Additionally, as a seller you can still take advantage of the strong market since according to Norada Real Estate Investments, 49.4% of sales surpassed the list price. As a buyer, if you are looking to buy a place to live in it might make sense to wait it out a bit. Since interest rates seem to be going back on the decline its only a matter of time until something that is an ideal fit for you enters the market. However, you should make sure to keep your eyes peeled as inventory will most likely remain limited. If you are buying for the purpose of investment just make sure to plan accordingly to ensure you are still retaining a profit on your investment. According to Norada Real Estate Investments, 29.2% of sales occurred under the list price, which shows there is still an opportunity to buy a fixer-upper that you can either fix and rent or fix and flip. Nevertheless, as a seller we advise that you don't sell unless you absolutely need to or you are going to be very satisfied by your return on investment. As buyers, we advise that you never buy something you cannot afford and to have a budget/plan in place before you even start your home search.
Renter's Forecast
As mentioned above Baltimore has a very strong market for rentals. The growing population as well as all the major establishments throughout the city provide a demand for workers and students that need a place to live, and while Baltimore is a very easy place to commute, there is still a strong demand for housing to accommodate the population that lives there. Moreover, Baltimore is still considered a fairly reasonable place to live when it comes to cost of living so landlords can price their rents competitively while still providing much more affordable options than those that are avaialble in other major cities. Additionally, it is always a safe bet for investors to buy properties near the major universities to supply students with off-campus housing while ensuring that they will pay the rent by having a parent cosign their lease (with that said nothing is ever certain).
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