Prices, inventory, and demand — distilled every month into one clear verdict: buyer’s market or seller’s. The investor’s read, before you make an offer.
The median asking price in Houston is about $320,000 as of Oct 2026, down 4.9% from a year ago. That is the asking price on listed homes, so sold-price and home-value sites show different numbers (why).
Only on the right house. Neither side has the upper hand in Houston right now. The signals split. Compared with 2017–2019 at this time of year, 16% of sellers have cut their price, against 23% then, but there are 17 pending sales per 100 listings, against 33 then. The market will not hand you a discount. You have to find it in one specific listing.
Asking price per square foot in Houston is 18.0% below its May 2022 high and down 5.6% over the last year. Prices were above the year before in 60% of months since the data starts, so drops here have not always reversed quickly. 16% of sellers have cut their price. Underwrite with no price growth for now and let the seller carry the next cut.
For every 100 homes still for sale, 17 are under contract. In 2017–2019 at this time of year it was 33. The rest are still waiting for a buyer. Few sellers are dropping their price. Your discount will come from one stale listing.
Houston listings spend a median 54 days on the market. There are 5,692 homes for sale in Houston. That is 2.5 times the tightest month on record, but below the peak of 5,910. Supply is shrinking against last year.
The median asking price is 26.5% below its Jun 2021 peak. Per square foot the gap is smaller: 18.0% below the May 2022 high. Part of the drop is smaller homes coming to market. Prices are still falling. Waiting has paid off so far. Let listings age, then come back lower. Houston prices rose in only 67 of the last 112 months. This market goes up and down. Timing matters here. Growth will not rescue a bad price.
This market is turning. Which way is not settled yet. Check the monthly numbers above before you commit.
Most Houston households rent. 50 out of every 100 households are renters. That share has held steady for five years. Houston added about 24,000 renter households in five years. Renter households average 2.3 people. Two and three bedrooms fit the typical renter.
Households grew 9% in five years. The housing stock grew 8%. The two are moving in step. 10.4% of homes sit empty. Tenants have options. Budget extra weeks of vacancy between leases.
The median Houston household earns $78,845 a year. Incomes here have grown 3.9% a year since 2019. Incomes are rising faster than home prices. Affordability is improving. A typical home costs 4.1 times the median income. That is the national middle. Neither cash flow nor appreciation is free here. At 30% of income, a tenant on the median income can pay about $1,971 a month.
To see what one Houston address would rent for and cash flow, run it through the app.
Ranked among the 77 Texas markets we track:
Read how price cuts signal a market turning and how we read these numbers, then run the numbers on a deal.
The median asking price in Houston is about $320,000 as of Oct 2026, down 4.9% from a year ago. This is the asking price on homes listed for sale. Sites that report sold prices or estimated home values will show a different number. Our Houston figures cover 50 of the 168 ZIP codes with a Houston mailing address, so citywide counts such as homes for sale run low.
Neither side has the upper hand in Houston right now. We compare Houston with 2017–2019 at this time of year: there are 17 pending sales per 100 listings, against 33 then; 16% of sellers have cut their price, against 23% then; listings spend 13% fewer days on the market.
The median asking price is 26.5% below its Jun 2021 peak. Per square foot the gap is smaller: 18.0% below the May 2022 high. Part of the drop is smaller homes coming to market. Prices are still falling. Waiting has paid off so far. Let listings age, then come back lower.
77015. Only 18 homes under contract for every 100 still for sale. 29% of sellers there have cut their price, and listings there spend a median 74 days on the market.
Across 9 full years, Houston asking prices ran lowest in December, about 3.4% below the year's average. They peaked in June. The most homes for sale show up in August, about 8% above the yearly average.
Assume -2.2% a year. Houston barely grew over the decade. Ignore that rate. Most of it landed in the 2020 and 2021 boom. Without the boom, Houston loses about 2.2% a year. That is the number to type in. Prices fell 5.6% over the last year. Use it for timing. The five-year rate is the better guide.
HUD's fiscal year 2026 fair market rent for Harris County is $1,573 a month for 2 bedrooms and $2,116 for 3 bedrooms. The figures include tenant-paid utilities and cover the whole county.
No ZIP is on both lists. In Houston you pick leverage or growth. You cannot have both.
| ZIP | $/sqft, 2 yrs | $/sqft now | Buyers per home | For sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77048 | +7.6% | $166 | 0.40 | 105 |
| 77013 | +6.7% | $158 | 0.25 | 20 |
| 77034 | +4.5% | $153 | 0.28 | 47 |
| 77020 | -0.3% | $187 | 0.13 | 142 |
| 77041 | -0.4% | $160 | 0.16 | 67 |
Computed from each ZIP's own ten-year history. ZIPs with fewer than 10 homes for sale are excluded: a median across a handful of listings is noise, not a signal.
Houston has 168 ZIP codes. Each links to its live market dashboard.
Closest matches on asking price, price per square foot, time on market, buyer demand, and price cuts.
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