Home sales in the Houston area exploded amid the pandemic's low interest rates, but Homes.com’s latest housing report shows signs that it is becoming a buyer's market.
The number of sales in greater Houston, including single-family homes, townhouses and condos, declined year over year in November for the second consecutive month, according to the report, dropping 9.5% from last year to just over 5,800 transactions. Since 2021, Houston home sales in November have dropped by nearly one-third.
Condos saw the biggest drop in November sales year-over-year at 9.9% but were the one segment to see appreciation, with prices up more than 14% from November 2024.
For all property types, Homes.com data shows median sales prices were down year-over-year by 0.7%, compared to the 2.4% gain seen nationwide. It was the third consecutive month of price declines in Houston.
"Home sales activity is still fairly strong in Houston, so it’s not that we have a 'weak' market, but we just don’t have nearly as many buyers as we do sellers," said Itziar Aguirre, senior director of market analytics for Homes.com. "We have a lot of inventory on the market and still a lot of buyers 'locked-in' with lower mortgage rates reluctant to buy at today’s higher rates."
Market favoring buyers
Demand may be down but supply keeps rising, according to a Dec. 15 report from the Houston Association of Realtors that showed single-family detached housing — not including condos or townhomes — hit five months of inventory in November with listings spiking 19.4% year over year.
And all that boils down to Houston becoming more of a buyer’s market.
“The housing market in Houston is slowly, but surely, shifting in favor of buyers,” Aguirre said. “Listings are at an all-time high and prices are falling, giving buyers more negotiating power.”
Growth in Katy, Crosby and luxury housing
Sales may be down overall in Houston, but some pockets of the metropolitan area still saw some signs of positivity in November.
Of all Houston neighborhoods tracked by Homes.com, Katy on the west side saw more homes sold than the next two highest — Conroe and Lake Conroe — combined. Katy includes a number of master-planned communities, including Sunterra, Tamarron and Anniston.
Meanwhile, no neighborhood saw greater year-over-year growth percentage-wise than Crosby, northeast of Houston, which saw 126% more home sales year-over-year in November. Crosby is home to a master-planned community from Lennar called Synova.
Despite declining prices overall, the luxury market, or homes priced at $1 million or above, performed the best of any price point in November, the HAR’s report states, showing 23.4% growth in sales year over year.
Overall, though, Aguirre said she believes 2026 could offer a more balanced market.
“We will likely see mortgage rates continue to gradually decline, which will bring in more buyers from the sidelines,” she said. “Even a small decrease in rates can have a pretty big impact on your monthly payment."