Baltimore

Driven by numerous expanding industries, the Greater Baltimore area is ahead of the curve when it comes to market stabilization. In 2011, Baltimore was ranked "6th Best City for Jobs" by Forbes among the top 25 metro markets.  The region also had the 4th lowest unemployment rate (7.9%) as of April 2011 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many Fortune 500 companies are among the top 100 employers in this Mid-Atlantic port city, and the region boasts some of the leading names in Healthcare, International Banking and Finance, Education, Life Sciences/Biotechnology and Information Technology/Defense. Major employers include Johns Hopkins Medicine/University, University of Maryland, Legg Mason, T. Rowe Price, and the U.S. Government.

The Baltimore real estate market contains over 230 million square feet of office and industrial space. Demand for space will depend largely on the speed of recovery in employment growth and overall economic activity. Market conditions should start to show signs of improvement with the influx of more than 15,000 jobs due to the DoD’s Base Realignment and Closure of 2005 (BRAC).  The National Security Agency’s increased hiring efforts to support its cyber security initiatives should also have a positive economic impact on the area.