2026 Baltimore Rental Market Report

The Portfolio at a Glance

as of October 5, 2026

Operating occupancy is 95.0% because 32 of the 41 vacant units sit in two properties already sold and out of the operating book.

What Baltimore Renters Are Paying

as of October 5, 2026

Average market rent by home size, drawn from the portfolio rent roll:

Asking rents run above the portfolio's in-place averages, which is normal: listings reflect today's market, while in-place rents include long-term residents who renewed below current asking prices.

Turnover: How Often Homes Changed Hands

October 2025 to September 2026

On a 194-unit operating book, 80 lease endings in a year means a little over 4 in 10 homes turned over. That churn is the single largest controllable cost in rental housing, which is why renewal pricing and resident retention matter more than any other line item.

Maintenance: The Work Behind the Scenes

October 2025 to September 2026

Common request types seen across the year include plumbing (water damage, faucets, toilets, showers, water heaters), appliances (fridge, oven), locks, and HVAC service calls.

Methodology and Honest Limits

Every figure above comes from the portfolio's own management system, pulled on October 5, 2026. A few limits are worth stating plainly:

1. The rent roll counts 669 lease records, including historical leases, so the rent averages are lease-weighted rather than a pure snapshot of the 226 current units.
2. The system does not readily produce a median in-place rent, an average days-vacant figure, a category-ranked maintenance table, or an average repair completion time. Those are tracked operationally but are not in this report rather than being estimated.
3. This is one portfolio, not a citywide census. It reflects the homes PropertyWize manages across Baltimore and surrounding counties, not every rental in the metro.

What It Means

Baltimore's rental market, seen from inside a working portfolio, is a two-speed market. In-place rents average $1,359.43 while new listings ask a median of $1,774.50. Owners who price renewals with that gap in mind keep good residents and avoid the far higher cost of a vacant, turned unit. With operating occupancy at 95.0% and about 91% of maintenance work orders completed or closed over the past year, the formula is not complicated: price fairly, fix things fast, and the homes stay full.