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Texas Housing Research

Data-driven Houston and Texas real-estate research — market pulse, $/sqft, days on market, neighborhood leaderboards, rental yields, and forecasts. Every number traced to aggregated HAR MLS data.

Market Pulse

Houston Is Cooling? Not If You Look at Closed Prices

“Higher rates will crash Houston” is the easy story. The closings tell a different one. In May 2026 the typical Houston home sold for $346,990 — a 5.1% jump from March and the highest monthly median since last June — and it changed hands in 26 days, down from 43 in January. Sellers still captured 96.4% of their original asking price. The honest catch: fewer homes are trading (volume −5.9% year over year) and buyers are paying a little less per square foot (−2.6%), so this is the market repricing its mix, not booming. And it’s wildly uneven — $1M+ homes sell in 12 days while sub-$200K homes take a month. Here’s what the closed-price data actually says about where Houston is heading.

The median price a Houston home actually sold for in May 2026 — up 5.1% from March and within 1% of the cycle peak, even with mortgage rates near 6.5%.

$346,990

6 min read
Neighborhoods

Sellers Are Blinking — But Only in Certain ZIPs

The headline is true and useless: 31.6% of Houston listings have cut price. Underneath, the metro splits in two. Out past the Grand Parkway — Splendora 58.8%, Cleveland 54.1%, Manvel 51.9%, Willis 48.1%, Conroe and Hockley in the mid-40s — nearly half of every listing has already dropped its ask, and the cuts run two to three times deeper than the metro’s 4.5%. Inside the loop, sellers are barely flinching: Independence Heights 12.6%, Garden Oaks 14.7%, Montrose 15.7%. And the kicker — even with all that cutting, the typical Houston home still sold for 96.4% of its original list in May. This is selective repricing, not a fire sale. Here are the ZIPs where sellers are giving ground, and the ones where they still hold the cards.

Share of for-sale listings that have already cut their price in Splendora (77372) — the most seller-stressed ZIP in metro Houston, vs 31.6% metro-wide

58.8%

6 min read

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Market Pulse

Houston Is Cooling? Not If You Look at Closed Prices

“Higher rates will crash Houston” is the easy story. The closings tell a different one. In May 2026 the typical Houston home sold for $346,990 — a 5.1% jump from March and the highest monthly median since last June — and it changed hands in 26 days, down from 43 in January. Sellers still captured 96.4% of their original asking price. The honest catch: fewer homes are trading (volume −5.9% year over year) and buyers are paying a little less per square foot (−2.6%), so this is the market repricing its mix, not booming. And it’s wildly uneven — $1M+ homes sell in 12 days while sub-$200K homes take a month. Here’s what the closed-price data actually says about where Houston is heading.

The median price a Houston home actually sold for in May 2026 — up 5.1% from March and within 1% of the cycle peak, even with mortgage rates near 6.5%.

$346,990

6 min read
Neighborhoods

Sellers Are Blinking — But Only in Certain ZIPs

The headline is true and useless: 31.6% of Houston listings have cut price. Underneath, the metro splits in two. Out past the Grand Parkway — Splendora 58.8%, Cleveland 54.1%, Manvel 51.9%, Willis 48.1%, Conroe and Hockley in the mid-40s — nearly half of every listing has already dropped its ask, and the cuts run two to three times deeper than the metro’s 4.5%. Inside the loop, sellers are barely flinching: Independence Heights 12.6%, Garden Oaks 14.7%, Montrose 15.7%. And the kicker — even with all that cutting, the typical Houston home still sold for 96.4% of its original list in May. This is selective repricing, not a fire sale. Here are the ZIPs where sellers are giving ground, and the ones where they still hold the cards.

Share of for-sale listings that have already cut their price in Splendora (77372) — the most seller-stressed ZIP in metro Houston, vs 31.6% metro-wide

58.8%

6 min read
Speed & DOM

The Exurban Trap: Where Houston Sellers Are Getting Stranded

The headlines say Houston is finally balanced. A 26-day median, 2.9 months of supply, prices flat. Underneath, the metro has split in half. Inner Loop ZIPs like West U (77005) and Bellaire (77401) still clear in 10–13 days at $329–$491/sqft. Outer-ring residential is on a different clock: Country Homes/Acreage closes in a median 95 days, Crystal Beach 86, Galveston 65 (with $/sqft down 15.6% year-over-year), and the under-$200K band is cutting prices 7.9% off ask. If you’re selling outside Loop 99, the metro average is lying to you — your market started cooling months ago.

Median days to sell a Country Homes / Acreage property in Houston (May 2026)

95 days

7 min read Video
Pricing & $/sqft

Houston’s Fastest-Selling Homes Cost Over $1 Million

Everyone is reading about Houston’s cooling market. The data says the cooling is a mid- and entry-market story. In May, $1M+ homes sold in a median 12 days — less than half the market’s 26 — only 18% had cut their price (vs 31% market-wide), and they were a record 6.0% of closings and 22.5% of all dollars spent. Memorial, West University, River Oaks, and Bellaire carry it. Above $5M, though, the rules change entirely.

Median days to sell a $1M+ Houston home (May 2026)

12 days

7 min read Video
Speed & DOM

Houston's Frozen Middle: Why $400K Homes Now Sell Slower Than $1M Ones

In March 2026, Houston's market inverted the usual rule. Homes priced $350K–$500K took a median 42 days to sell — the slowest of any price band and 3× longer than the $1M+ tier (14 days). Luxury cut prices least (16.5% of listings); the cheap end stays liquid on a 10–14% gross-yield investor bid. The move-up middle has no cash bid above it and no yield bid below it — just rate-locked buyers who can't move. Here's where leverage actually sits.

Move-up tier ($350K–$500K) median time to sell

42 days

6 min read