Located off Rte. 795 at 5 Brookebury Dr. about 15 miles outside of Baltimore, Owings Manor Apartments features 791 residences accented by such amenities as a fitness center, swimming pool and tennis court. Berkshire bought the property from Apartment Services Inc. in a cash deal of nearly $67.2 million. The REIT's other acquisition, Pelham Wood Apartments, is a 464-unit garden-style community situated off I-695, about seven miles from Baltimore. Pelham Wood LLP sold the property at 34 Dowling Circle for nearly $30.2 million in cash.

The Baltimore area apartment market, on the average, has been on the upswing thanks to job growth. However, the positive effects differ from submarket to submarket. "While relatively high-paying jobs in Baltimore's education, health, and financial services sectors are being added, jobs in manufacturing [less highly-paid] have been lost each year for decades," according to Delta Associates' Baltimore Apartment Market Year End 2004 report. The report says this leaves geographic submarkets such as Harford County, closer-suburbs north and northeast of Baltimore City, and some parts of Anne Arundel County--areas that depend on relatively lower-income residents--at a comparative disadvantage; higher-earning suburbs to the northwest and southwest are booming..

It is a practice of Berkshire, which chose not to comment on its two recent purchases, to acquire and rehabilitate multifamily properties. The company owns eight apartment communities in the Baltimore/Washington, DC region.