Baltimore Rents are Growing Again After a Brief Pause in 1st Quarter

Baltimore's been an interesting case study in how spillover effects from a nearby, larger metro area (in this case, Washington, DC) can impact performance. The Baltimore metro area began losing jobs in spring 2025, though job growth here more recently looks to be stabilizing (though not re-accelerating). So, what stands out in the Baltimore stats then? Honestly, there's not a flashy headline that captures the metro area's apartment performance. Rents began to stagnate in the back half of 2025 before eventually dipping into negative annual territory in 1st quarter 2026, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. But that contraction looks to have been brief, with 2nd quarter 2026 showing positive year-over-year growth once more.  What does stand out, though, is the deeper data in Baltimore. Adjusting for seasonality, units are sitting vacant for longer than any point in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, the share of leases being renewed is higher than ever before (also adjusted for seasonality).  So, the Baltimore market really looks to be more of a story of residents staying put while demand for new leases is limited at best.