Faro Labs / Markets / Baltimore, MD
Baltimore real estate investment market
What a typical rental in Baltimore, Maryland costs, rents for, and returns: underwritten by Faro's own engine, not a scraped summary.
Returns assume 20% down at 6.75% over 30 years, 7% vacancy, and standard operating costs: Faro's default assumptions, the same ones every report starts from. Home value and rent trends as of 2026-05-31.
Cash-flow market
A typical Baltimore rental covers itself: $191,986 at $1,740 a month leaves $141 after the mortgage and operating costs. The return here is money arriving monthly, which you can verify, rather than a bet on prices.
The price a deal actually works at
Faro models five price points for Baltimore, from a weak buy to a strong one. The market-rate deal is $191,986; a good buy is $172,787 and a great one $153,589 roughly 20% below market value. Those are the bars a specific listing gets measured against when you run it.
How Baltimore compares
Of the 210 markets Faro publishes, Baltimore is the 197th most expensive to buy into: 52% below the median covered market, and the 5th strongest on rent-to-price. It's the only Maryland market we currently cover. On the last year of home-value change it ranks 102nd.
A typical property here clears $141 a month at market rent, so it could absorb a rent drop to about $1,566 before it stopped covering itself.
What each tier costs in Baltimore
Faro models five price points per market. A listing gets measured against these bars, not against a national average.
| Tier | Purchase price | Market rent | vs. market rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak buy | $211,185 | $1,653/mo | +10% |
| Fair buy | $201,585 | $1,705/mo | +5% |
| Market rate | $191,986 | $1,740/mo | — |
| Good buy | $172,787 | $1,827/mo | -10% |
| Great buy | $153,589 | $1,914/mo | -20% |
A typical Baltimore deal, underwritten
The market-rate property above, run through the same engine every Faro report uses.
| Purchase price | $191,986 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $1,740 |
| Cash required (20% down + 3% closing) | $44,157 |
| Net operating income | $13,649/yr |
| Monthly cash flow | $141 |
| Cap rate | 7.1% |
| Cash-on-cash return | 3.8% |
| DSCR | 1.14 |
One of the cheapest ways in
At $191,986, a typical Baltimore property costs 51.7% less than the median market Faro covers: 197th most expensive of 210. Cash required at 20% down plus closing is about $44,157, which is what makes markets like this the usual starting point for a first rental. The trade is management: a cheap property is not a cheap property to run, and the fixed costs, a roof, a furnace, a turnover, are the same dollars against a much smaller rent.
It cash-flows at market rent
A typical Baltimore property clears $141 a month at the market's own rent: no below-market purchase required, no above-market rent assumed. Rent could fall to about $1,566 before it stopped covering itself, which is roughly 10% of cushion. That's the property paying for itself rather than a bet on what prices do next, and it's uncommon enough among the 210 markets here to be the headline.
Baltimore investor questions
Is Baltimore a good place to buy rental property?
A typical Baltimore rental at $191,986 renting for $1,740 a month returns 7.1% on a cap-rate basis and clears $141 a month at 20% down. Individual deals vary far more than markets do, which is the whole reason to underwrite a specific address.
How much cash flow can you get in Baltimore?
About $141 a month on a typical property at market rent, on roughly $44,157 of cash invested: a 3.8% cash-on-cash return before appreciation or loan paydown.
How much do you need to buy a rental in Baltimore?
About $44,157 at 20% down plus 3% closing on a typical $191,986 property: one of the lower entry points among the 210 markets covered here.
Are rents going up in Baltimore?
Rents moved up 2.3% over the last year, measured across 19 ZIP codes. The typical market-rate rental sits at $1,740 a month.
Run the numbers yourself
A market average is not a deal.
Paste a real Baltimore listing and Faro underwrites that specific property from its own comps, with a target price you can actually offer.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only: not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.