Bolton Hill real estate values continued to rise in 2024, with 38 properties changing hands in the neighborhood at an average price of $466,510 and a median of $445,000, according to Live Baltimore, the non-profit organization working to boost the city’s population and support healthy housing markets.
The combined value of those sales, which includes small condo apartments as well as spacious old mansions, totaled above $17.7 million. It does not account for new rentals on the market, such as the old Strawbridge Methodist Church on Park Avenue at Wilson Street, built in 1881 and recently opened with 11 apartment units after several years of reconstruction.
“$400,000 has pretty much become the entry point for any kind of home purchase in Bolton Hill,” said Jessica Dailey, a longtime neighborhood resident and agent for Compass, a national residential real estate firm. “There is still a shortage of listings. People with low-interest mortgages are staying put or, if they move, are holding on to their mortgage and renting their property.”
“Baltimore City continues to be more affordable than the surrounding counties. In general, the real estate market has been strong, with first-time home buyers looking to transition from renting to homeownership,” said another key real estate player in the neighborhood, Avendui Lacovara, affiliated with Sotheby’s International Realty. She said that in the fall, properties priced under $800,000 sold more quickly than those in the higher price points.
“Bolton Hill is a unique market where so many people would like to live,” Dailey added. “And while prices have gone up, Baltimore is still a great bargain compared to other nearby cities like Philly, DC or NYC. When I show new doctors or professors weighing job or teaching offers at JHU vs. other similar centers, I tell them to consider home prices in making their decisions.”
But external factors may affect home sales in 2025:
- Interest rates. If President Trump’s obsession with tariffs stimulates new inflation, as it might, instead of interest rates falling the Federal Reserve might reverse itself and once again raise credit rates to offset rising prices.
- Cuts in the federal workforce and programs. Federal workers and contractors are a huge segment of Maryland’s workforce, and universities, public agencies, health care facilities and the city’s big nonprofit sector depend heavily on federal grants and contracts. Unemployment and uncertainty do not encourage home buying.
- Home insurance rates. Even before the disastrous Los Angeles fires, home insurance rates were skyrocketing, with some Maryland insurers reluctant to cover properties that they deem to be high-risk.
Bolton Hill realtor Marci Yankelov, who also is an investor in residential properties, says that would-be first-time home buyers who keep waiting for lower mortgage rates are likely to be shocked by big rent increases. “As a landlord, I’m getting socked hard by the increases in utilities and other expenses, so I have no choice but to raise my rental rates that include BGE and water bills. I would advise those who have decent credit to consider buying because, while owners still have to pay BGE, they have more stability, more control over their other housing expenditures.”
Still, both Lacovara and Dailey are optimistic. Dailey predicts that when buying picks up in the spring, the sellers’ market that is Bolton Hill likely will see multiple bids for houses on the market. Rocket, a Detroit-based real estate and financial services company, estimates that homes in Bolton Hill sold for 22.1 percent more last year than in 2023.
Citywide, the picture is more nuanced. According to Live Baltimore, sales were down by 5 percent over the previous year, with only 7,407 residential sales for a total of $1.9 billion, the third time in a decade that there were fewer than 8,000 transactions. Median sale prices in the city jumped 5 percent to $220,000 and an average price of $251,000 – far lower than in surrounding jurisdictions.
Live Baltimore says that in nearby Mt. Vernon last year there were 24 residential sales recorded at an average price of $383,133. In Reservoir Hill, where the Reservoir Square townhouse development on North Avenue is underway, there were 40 property sales averaging $313,112.
–Bill Hamilton
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