By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
BALTIMORE, Md. — Baltimore’s housing market landed near the bottom of a new national ranking this week. Out of 300 U.S. cities studied, the city came in 299th, trailing nearly every major metro in the country, including coastal markets the same report dinged for being too expensive.
The personal finance site WalletHub released its “Best Real Estate Markets in 2026” report Wednesday, grading 300 cities across 17 categories that go well beyond sticker price. The study weighed home price appreciation, job growth, foreclosure activity, and mortgage delinquency alongside more familiar affordability measures. Baltimore finished ahead of only one city: New Orleans, which took last place.
The city’s individual category scores were consistently weak:
- 258th out of 300 in median home price appreciation
- 263rd in job growth rate
- 280th in foreclosure rate
- 285th in the share of homeowners with delinquent mortgages
“Baltimore finished ahead of only one city: New Orleans.”
By comparison, three of the country’s most notoriously expensive housing markets, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, still finished dozens of spots higher, at 231st, 237th, and 273rd respectively. Frisco, Texas, took the top overall spot, followed by McKinney, Texas, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Durham, North Carolina, and Denton, Texas, a top five dominated by Sun Belt cities with newer housing stock and faster job growth.
“Even some of the country’s most notoriously expensive housing markets finished dozens of spots higher.”
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said the results are worth taking seriously, even if a further slide isn’t guaranteed. “These rankings are a reason to be cautious,” Lupo told Fox Business, noting that cities with weak underlying numbers tend to see slower price growth and thinner buyer demand, which makes it tougher for owners to sell or build value in their homes.
It’s worth noting that WalletHub’s ranking is one methodology, not the final word on Baltimore’s market. The study leans heavily on job growth, foreclosure activity, and mortgage health rather than price movement alone, which is a big part of why a city can land near the bottom of this particular list without a dramatic price collapse showing up in the headlines.
“A city can land near the bottom of this particular list without a dramatic price collapse showing up in the headlines.”
Still, the report lands at an awkward moment for the city. MDBayNews has reported this year on other soft spots in Baltimore’s economic picture, including layoffs at longtime anchor employer T. Rowe Price. Taken individually, none of these data points proves a single narrative. Taken together, they add up to a harder question for city and state leaders: whether the fundamentals underneath Baltimore’s housing market, jobs, new construction, and foreclosure risk, are improving fast enough to change how the city scores on studies like this one next year.
“Taken together, they add up to a harder question: are Baltimore’s economic fundamentals improving fast enough?”
WalletHub’s full report and city-by-city breakdown is available at wallethub.com.
Sources: WalletHub, “Best Real Estate Markets in 2026,” released Aug. 19, 2026, comparing 300 U.S. cities across 17 metrics; Fox Business, “Sun Belt cities dominate 2026 best housing markets, Texas leads list,” Aug. 19, 2026, including comments from WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo; NottinghamMD.com and Baltimore Post-Examiner, both Aug. 19, 2026, corroborating Baltimore’s category-level rankings.
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