Despite the recession coinciding with new developments in Charles Village, neither rent rates nor property tax will increase this year.
"Property taxes are not going up in Baltimore City in the coming year," District 14 Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said.
According to Clarke, the City's budget has "already been proposed" to the Council and contained no property tax increases.
Neighborhoods are assessed on a three-year cycle, Clarke explained, and Charles Village is not being reassessed for property values in the next year anyway.
"Because of the recession, there are more vacancies in the rental units than normal, and I would surmise that people will get more competitive in their rental rates," Clarke added. "Students need not worry that their rent will go up. In some cases it may even go down."
"We have not increased the rent in our building for the?past two years. For any?Hopkins students renting?this year we will guarantee that their rent?will not be increased for the next academic year as well," Mani Pulimood, from the leasing office of Peabody Apartments, said in an e-mail.
Other nearby apartments are running business as usual.
Barbara Noppinger, manager of the Baltimorean Apartments, said that rent rates are discounted through the end of April and will actually increase slightly in August.
"We are already pretty much booked for the summer and we have a waiting list for the fall," Noppinger explained in an e-mail.
Fidelity Real Estate Corporation said in an e-mail that they are increasing rates in the Allston for incoming tenants in order to save their tenants more money in the long run.
"We expect to have the net effect of actually lowering the overall annual cost to tenants leasing from us," a representative of Fidelity said in an e-mail.
