Sell Your Commercial Property In Maryland

The Maryland rental market at a glance

Maryland had 765,363 renter households in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey, or 32.4% of 2,362,928 occupied homes. Owners hold the other 67.6%. Another 579,210 Maryland housing units, 22.6% of the total, sit in buildings of five or more units, per ACS table B25024.

Maryland rental vacancy was 4.7% in the 2020-2024 DP04 housing profile, a tight reading. Median household income was $103,678, so the $1,705 median gross rent equals about 19.7% of a typical household's gross income.

Five-year trends in Maryland

Maryland median gross rent rose 22.5% between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS periods, from $1,392 to $1,705 a month. Median household income grew 22.3% over the same span, from $84,805 to $103,678. Rents and incomes therefore moved almost in step.

Maryland added 35,308 renter households between the two periods, a 4.8% gain. Units in five-plus buildings rose 6.9%, adding 37,420 units. The larger-building stock grew a little faster than the renter base it serves.

Maryland population grew 3.1% to 6,206,011, and employment rose 2.5%. Growth in Maryland demand for apartments is steady rather than explosive, which suits buyers who underwrite stable occupancy.

Maryland county comparison

Median gross rent in the three Maryland counties profiled here runs from $1,799 in Prince George's County to $2,071 in Anne Arundel County. Rental vacancy ranges from 3.7% in Montgomery County to 5.0% in Anne Arundel County, per 2020-2024 ACS figures.

Montgomery County has the most apartment-heavy stock of the three counties, with 33.3% of units in five-plus buildings. Baltimore city, an independent city, adds a lower-rent contrast at $1,331 and a 52.5% renter share.

Prince George's County added 11.0% more renter households over the five years, the fastest of the three. Its units in five-plus buildings grew 13.1%, while Montgomery County's grew 7.1% and Anne Arundel County's 3.1%, per the same ACS comparison.

Maryland landlord, tax and transfer rules

Maryland Real Property Code Section 8-203 caps a security deposit at one month's rent per unit. The landlord must return it within 45 days after the tenancy ends, with simple interest at the greater of the one-year Treasury rate or 1.5% a year.

Maryland has no statewide rent cap in the sources reviewed, but two counties act locally. Montgomery County limits increases to the lower of CPI-U plus 3% or 6%, set at 5.7% for July 2025 through June 2026.

Prince George's County uses the same formula under its Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act. It exempts units completed on or after January 1, 2000, and certain small owners with five or fewer rental units.

Maryland assesses property once in every three-year cycle under Tax-Property Section 8-104, so a building's value can step up on a schedule. The state transfer tax is 0.5% of consideration under Section 13-203(a)(1).

What this means if you sell in Maryland

Owners who sell commercial property in Maryland are priced on rent rolls, vacancy and local rent rules. A building in Montgomery County, at 3.7% vacancy, reads differently from one in Anne Arundel County at 5.0%.

Rules shape the offer. In Montgomery and Prince George's counties, buyers underwrite capped annual increases, so a lease ledger showing increases within the cap matters. The 0.5% state transfer tax and the next three-year reassessment also come into the net-proceeds math.

We review Maryland buildings of five or more units in the counties above and across the rest of Maryland. Send the rent roll, the deposit ledger and the latest Maryland tax statement, and we will set the property against these figures.