Houston Market Report · February 2026
The Houston Market in January 2026
Houston started the year with its fewest January sales since 2023 — but a 15.5% jump in luxury closings and rising inventory tell a more interesting story than the headline number.
The Numbers
January opened 2026 on a quiet note for Houston. Single-family sales dipped 1.0% year over year to 4,999 homes — the fewest January closings since 2023 — while the median price slipped 0.9% to $322,045, its lowest point since early 2024. But two numbers tell a more complicated story: pending sales rose 8.5%, and homes priced at $1 million and above saw sales jump 15.5%, the strongest-performing segment in the entire market.
The reason both can be true at once is inventory. Active single-family listings climbed 16.6% year over year to 34,570 homes, pushing supply to 4.7 months — well above the national average of 3.3 months. More to choose from meant homes sat longer (66 days on market, up from 61, the slowest pace since February 2020), but it also meant buyers who'd been priced out or sitting on the sidelines had real options again, including at the top of the market where luxury buyers moved fastest of anyone.
None of this points to a market in trouble — it points to one redistributing. The $250,000-$499,999 range, which still accounts for more than half of all Houston sales, cooled the most, while cheaper and pricier segments both picked up steam. Anyone shopping in that broad middle price band should expect more competition from sellers for their attention this spring than sellers are used to giving.
What January Actually Meant for Buyers and Sellers
If you were shopping under $500,000, January was a genuinely better month to be patient — more inventory, longer days on market, and real room to negotiate on condition and closing terms rather than competing on speed alone.
If you were shopping at $1 million and above, the opposite was true: that segment moved the fastest and grew the most of anyone. Sellers in that range who priced realistically weren't waiting long.
For sellers in the broad middle of the market, the lesson is preparation, not panic — a 4.7-month supply means your home is one of several realistic options a buyer is weighing, so pricing at what January's real comps supported (not what a listing sold for a year earlier) mattered more than it had in a while.
Sales data sourced from the Houston Association of Realtors' (HAR) monthly Housing Market Update, covering January 2026. Shopping in the luxury tier instead? See our Luxury Market Report.
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