The Houston metropolitan area set a listings record for a second consecutive month, leveling prices across the 10-county region.
After hitting a new high with 46,037 active listings in May, the market reached another pinnacle with 47,638 listings in June, up 31.9% from June 2024, the Houston Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The figures include single-family homes, condos and townhouses but not vacant lots.
Listings are up as sellers locked into historically low mortgage rates from the pandemic realize they can't stay put indefinitely and are becoming more willing to consider moves, especially with assumable mortgages becoming more common, according to real estate agents. With an assumable mortgage, a buyer takes on the same loan terms as the seller.
Rising insurance rates also appear to be a factor in more homes hitting the market.
The median price for single-family homes in June was $346,651, essentially unchanged from a year ago. The median price for condos and townhouses dropped 4.6% to $230,000.
"With slightly lower prices and more houses to choose from, it is starting to feel like a buyer’s market," said Itziar Aguirre, the Houston-based senior director of market analytics for Homes.com and CoStar.
Accept the market shift
Sellers would be wise to embrace, or at least accept, the market shift, said Jennifer Wauhob, a Houston-area agent and the 2025 chair-elect for the Texas Association of Realtors.
"They have to realize buyers have options now, so to be competitive, their home has to be in good condition and priced well," she told Homes.com. "Otherwise, buyers will just move on to the next home."
Home price moderation is a good thing, market observers say, as elevated mortgage rates contribute to affordability challenges. Rising prices in recent years have created a growing affordability gap in the Houston area, according to a report from Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
"There's a normalizing in the market,” said Shae Cottar, chair of the Houston Realtor group. "We can't keep having prices going up and interest rates going up. There's got to be some give somewhere."
Single-family home sales in June rose 12.5% from a year ago to 8,588, the association's data shows. Sales of homes priced at $1 million or more increased 40.6% from June 2024. But sales of condos and townhouses fell 4.4% to 483, the fifth consecutive decline.