Houston Market Update: July 2026

Houston buyers had more to choose from in July than at any point on record, and they kept buying anyway. That combination, record inventory alongside rising sales, is the clearest sign yet that this market is rebalancing rather than stalling.

Here is HAR's own July recap, followed by what the numbers actually mean depending on which side of the transaction you are on.

The headline numbers

According to the Houston Association of REALTORS® July 2026 Housing Market Update:

• Single-family sales rose 1.6% year over year, with 8,340 homes sold.
• Active listings hit 40,750, the highest level HAR has ever recorded, up 3.4%.
• The median price edged up 0.6% to $340,000; the average rose 1.9% to $440,816.
• Inventory reached 5.5 months of supply, against 4.6 months nationally.
• Homes took 53 days to sell on average, up from 50 a year ago.
• Total dollar volume climbed 3.4% to $4.1 billion.

Five and a half months of inventory matters more than any single price figure. Anything under about four months is a seller's market; six or more tips toward buyers. Houston is now sitting in genuinely balanced territory for the first time in years.

If you are buying

You have leverage you did not have eighteen months ago, and it is worth using deliberately.

• More choice means you can afford to be specific. With 40,750 active listings, the house that fits your commute, your school zone and your budget is far likelier to exist right now.
• Fifty-three days on market means less pressure. Homes sitting three to six weeks give you room to inspect properly and negotiate on repairs instead of waiving everything to win.
• Affordability has quietly improved. Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed rate at 6.54% in July, down from 6.72% a year earlier. On a median-priced Houston home with 20% down, that is roughly $250 a year back in your pocket.

Houston affordability has improved year over year in 21 of the past 24 months, against 15 of 24 nationally. That is a meaningful local advantage, and it is not permanent.

If you are selling

Record inventory means record competition. Your home is now one of more than forty thousand, and buyers can afford to be picky.

• Price it against what actually closed, not what your neighbour is asking. The first two weeks on market set your final number more than any later price cut will.
• Condition is doing real work again. When buyers have options, the well-prepared home wins and the deferred-maintenance home negotiates.
• Plan for 53 days, not 5. Build that into your timeline before you list so you are not making a panicked decision in week six.

The upside: prices are still up year over year, and the upper end is genuinely strong. Sales above $1M rose 9.4% in July, the biggest gain of any price band.

The townhome and condo picture is different

Not every segment moved the same way. Townhome and condominium sales fell 9% to 425 transactions, the average price slipped 2.4% to $260,987, and inventory expanded to 9.1 months.

Nine months of supply is a buyer's market by any reasonable definition. If you have been priced out of single-family, this is where to look. If you are selling a condo, pricing discipline is not optional.

What I would watch next

Inventory at a record high while sales still rise is a healthy pattern, not a warning sign. It usually means new listings and new buyers are arriving together. The number worth watching is days on market: if 53 becomes 70 while inventory keeps climbing, negotiating power shifts further toward buyers.

HAR publishes this update monthly, and you can read the full July release on HAR.com. I will keep translating it here into what it means for specific neighborhoods.

Averages describe the market. They do not describe your street, your school zone, or your house. If you want to know what these numbers mean for a specific address, that is a short conversation and I am happy to have it.