Houston’s housing market continues to diverge from other major Texas cities, with inventory levels rising while listings in the rest of the state decline.
According to Homes.com senior director of market analytics Itziar Aguirre, Houston led the nation in active home listings in October, reaching over 42,000. This figure represents an increase of about 1,400 homes compared to September and 7,000 more than last October. “We’re still seeing a lot of master-planned communities pop up, even today at this interest rate, so that’s keeping inventory high. Especially west and north of Houston,” Aguirre said.
Dallas/Fort Worth holds the second-largest housing inventory nationally but has seen its available homes decrease since July. The Austin market has also contracted during this period, dropping from 16,500 homes for sale in July to 14,700 by October. San Antonio experienced a brief uptick in September before its inventory declined again the following month.
Despite broader trends where homeowners are pulling their properties off the market due to less favorable conditions, Houston stands out as the only metro area within the Texas Triangle experiencing sustained growth in housing supply. Industry data from CoStar suggests that new master-planned community developments are offsetting declines in resale activity across Houston.
Houston was recognized earlier this year for having a significant share of top-selling master-planned communities nationwide. Developers such as Starwood Land, Brookfield, Hines, Friendswood Development Company and D.R. Horton have contributed to maintaining a steady pipeline of new projects throughout 2024. Over one-fifth of all master-planned community sales in the United States occur in Houston.
In October alone, single-family home inventory increased by 16 percent year-over-year within Houston; townhomes and condos saw even higher growth rates at 27 percent and 28 percent respectively. The areas around Katy and Lake Conroe recorded the highest regional increases in active listings over the past year.
