Baltimore?s housing market doesn?t reflect some of the tough times seen across the nation, and its condo market is even more protected, thanks to a low supply and buyers ranging from first-time owners to baby boomers.
A Standard and Poor?s study released last week showed the biggest drop in U.S. housing prices in 20 years, but Baltimore prices have remained steady, even rising in some areas.
“I think it?s a combination of having fewer units, and they?re less expensive,” said Deborah Barnett, real estate agent with Baltimore-based Results1Realty.com.
Barnett said high-end condos have experienced some price and sales slippage, due to fewer buyers looking for luxury properties. Instead, “entry-level” condo properties starting between $100,000 and $200,000 are attracting both first-time owners and empty-nesters, according to Bill Cassidy, sales manager with Long and Foster Fells Point.
Cassidy pointed to one condominium project, the renovation of the Old Friends School in Bolton Hill, as an example. The earliest units sold at the low price point of $159,000, but he said units continue to sell for between $175,000 and $225,000.
“It?s certainly appealing to first-time buyers, who would pay more in monthly rent than their mortgage on that condo,” Cassidy said. “You also find empty-nesters [who] sell the house out in one of the counties, buy a condo in Baltimore, but also buy a house on the Eastern shore.”
In the greater Baltimore area, condo buyers tend to be from the latter group, according to Marc Witman, a partner at Yerman Witman Gaines and Garceau Realty.
“If you look at the buyer, most of these people are baby boomers that have reached the point in their life where they want less ownership responsibility,” he said.
Age isn?t the only difference between the average homebuyer and the average condo buyer, said Eric Rice, a partner at Results1Realty.com. Rice said condo buyers often move quickly, sometimes passing through town for just one weekend to look at and purchase a condo.
“The condo buyer is maybe a better financial buyer,” Rice said. “They?re not nearly as affected as any of the subprime [mortgage] issues. I don?t know if I?ve ever had or heard of a condo falling through for financing reasons.”
