The demand for rental housing had moderated as of midyear in the Baltimore area as job growth decreased and apartment supply increased, according to Delta Associates, an Alexandria, Va.-based commercial real estate consulting firm. Vacancy rates for Class A apartments - newer or updated units with extra amenities - were flat, at 5.4 percent, and average rents remained essentially the same as midyear 2008, at $1,353, Delta's most recent apartment market report shows.
Delta's report does not break out rents by type of unit. But according to data tracked this year in the Baltimore metro area by Apartments.com, rent on a one-bedroom apartment averages just over $1,000, while rent on a two-bedroom unit averages $1,285.
In the current job and housing market, renting has become the most logical choice for Jordan Hamilton, a 27-year-old title underwriter who works in Columbia.
Hamilton looked at houses when he first moved from Tennessee to Maryland in October for a new job. But uncertainty over where his career might take him has kept him out of the market.
"Some of the houses were somewhat affordable, but I just don't know where I'm going to be as far as my job, and I'm new to my industry," Hamilton said.
Initially he thought, "I don't want to continue to throw money away on rent," he said. "But then I had to weigh my options, and thought maybe I'm not throwing money away on rent. There were more pros to continue to rent for right now. I may not eventually be building any equity, and I'm worried about how much money I would lose if I need to sell it for a job move."
If a move were required, "I don't want to put up with having to sell a home," he said.
This spring he moved to an apartment at Mariner Bay just outside Annapolis, a 208-unit building that opened in April at the new Annapolis Towne Centre. The 2 million square-foot mixed-use development is designed around an urban-style main street with the Mariner Bay apartments, as well as a separate condo tower, some offices, restaurants and shops.
Residents of the Mariner Bay building have access to a 12th-floor club level, with a wine-tasting room, yoga room, fitness center and pool and landscaped terraces.
There, Hamilton said, "You're in the thick of everything."
A neighbor of his at Mariner Bay, Nycole Shealy, a 32-year-old physical therapist, said she had been about to buy a house in California but decided to move to Maryland, where she now works at a Baltimore hospital. With the relocation, she put off plans for buying and moved into the apartment complex in May.
