By: Robbie Whelan

Everyone knows that the easiest way to rile a true Baltimoron is to insinuate that Charm City is just a suburb of Washington. Yeah, a lot of people around here work for the federal government, and a lot of investment money comes from our rich, fat-cat cousins down in the “Corridor.” But as the decade comes to a close, the Baltimore faithful can point to two things we’ve got on Washingtonians: the Ravens (who’ve got a Super Bowl victory, a bunch of playoff appearances, and no shame like the shame of a Redskins fan, especially this season, JEEZ), and now — the Health of our Housing Market!

Housingwatch.com posted an analysis a few days before Christmas that ranked the top ten healthiest housing markets of the decade, based on percentage change in median home sale price, and guess what? Baltimore-Towson came in at a whopping #2, behind only Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J.

According to data from the National Association of Realtors, median home prices in the Mobtown metro area rose 9.81 percent, from $131,800 to $261,100, from 2000 through the third quarter of 2009. That left the sprawling, all-inclusive DC metro area, referred to by most multiple-listing services as “Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.,” eating our dust in 9th place. Median prices there rose from $178,800 to $324,700 over the last decade, or a change of 8.16 percent.

So what does this mean? Well, DC real estate is still more expensive, but generally, your typical investment house inside or around I-695 was a better investment, by 1 percentage point, than the average DC-area investment home. And for that, folks, I think we can all be thankful to Santa.

And as for New Years resolutions? Let’s beat ‘em again! Here’s to the new decade!