As inventory expands, here are some of Baltimore’s most popular neighborhoods for homebuyers
Live Baltimore is a nonprofit group that encourages people to buy homes in Baltimore’s neighborhoods. And while it offers tours and promotes the city’s residential communities, it also tracks real estate activity in Baltimore, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Its annual report took a look at 2023 and came up with some facts about neighborhood pricing, sales volume and popularity based upon days on the market.
Live Baltimore’s numbers offer a window into what happened in 2023, a year when interest rates were not particularly kind to home buyers.
“Baltimore City continues to be considerably more affordable than other counties in the region,” said Annie Milli, the group’s director. “Budget-constrained buyers benefit from our lower price points. And inventory in the city should continue to open up. There’s a huge new development on the former Locke Insulator site near the Hanover Street Bridge and the city is pushing forward on the renovation of vacant properties.”
In terms of volume, the most homes sold were in Canton, which is densely populated and full of rowhouses along Curley, Fleet and Streeper streets. It was followed, in second place, by Belair-Edison, in Northeast Baltimore around Erdman Avenue.
“Canton will always have the most home purchases because it is large, dense and composed of young people who tend to move more frequently,” said Milli. “Belair-Edison is also a large neighborhood, also dense, full of daylight-style homes. The housing stock is wide and well built. It is flanked on two sides by beautiful parks.”
Other popular buying areas were South Baltimore’s Riverside, Pigtown, Hampden, Brooklyn, Locust Point, Frankford, McElderry Park and Patterson Park.
The top-selling areas in Baltimore are some of its most well-known geographically and racially diverse places. Homes in these neighborhoods remain affordable and obviously buyers like their proximity to established shopping districts.
The lineup for the costliest housing in Baltimore is a different set of neighborhoods. Guilford tops that list, followed by North Roland Park (Lakes Avenue south to about Northern Parkway), the Orchards, Roland Park, Homeland and Wyndhurst.
Locust Point comes next (it’s also one of the most popular) and is followed by Cedarcroft, Harbor East and for the first time Madison Park, where homes sold on average for $475,000.
Milli, the Live Baltimore director, said: “The neighborhoods south of Gwynns Falls Park in West Baltimore have always been full of large, detached single family homes. They are historically significant and architecturally interesting. The communities are well maintained and have high rates of home ownership.”
Ten Hills, a 1910-era neighborhood of large homes off Edmondson Avenue, holds the 2023 honor of having homes listed for sale for the least amount of time. The homes are large, often made of stucco and have parlors, sun rooms and living rooms. Its streets have names like Drury Lane, Nottingham, Old Orchard and Chapel Gate. You would never mistake Ten Hills for Canton or Belair-Edison.
The next most popular places line up along the York Road/Greenmount Avenue corridor in North Baltimore. Lake Walker is full of charming bungalows and Cape Cods. It is followed by Mid-Govans and the all-rowhouse community of Abell, close by the Waverly shopping area and the 32nd Street Farmers Market.
Homes also sold quickly in Forest Park Golf Course, Lakeland, Wyman Park, Wyndhurst, Graceland Park, Perring Loch, Villages of Homeland, Mount Winans, Ridgely’s Delight, Uplands, Violetville, West Hills and Westgate.
“Single detached homes are in high demand and places such as West Hills and Westgate offer a lot of value,” said Milli. “People appreciate their charm and all the architectural features that come with them.”
