Houston Real Estate Market
Houston, TXEnergy capital with one of the most affordable price points in major Sun Belt metros
Key Market Stats
Last updated:- Median Price
- $360K
- -2.7% YoY
- Month-over-Month
- +2.7%
- vs. last month
- Active Listings
- 32,681
- homes for sale
- Months of Supply
- 2.8 mo.
- Balanced market
- Days on Market
- 48d
- median
- Cash Buyers
- 24%
- of all sales
Prices are median active listing prices (Realtor.com via FRED), not median sale prices. Days on market measures time listed, not days to close. Months of supply estimated from active ÷ new listings.
Side-by-side stats, charts & AI analysis
AI Market Analysis — Houston
Houston's housing market reflects the breadth of its economy — energy, medical, aerospace, and a port logistics cluster that continues to drive inbound moves. Prices remain materially below the Sun Belt average, giving the metro durable affordability appeal even as inventory climbs. Flood risk and insurance costs remain a structural overhang that buyers are increasingly factoring into neighbourhood selection.
Analysis generated from Redfin, FRED, and Census Bureau data. Updated monthly.
Space City
Houston
Space City — home of NASA and the Astros
Industries & employers in Houston
BLS / Census · 2025-Q3Total jobs
3.4M
Nonfarm employment, 2025-Q3
Unemployment
4.3%
Seasonally adjusted
Job growth YoY
+1.7%
Year-over-year change
Median HH income
$80K
Census ACS estimate
Industry mix
Share of total nonfarm employment
Major employers
Metro-area headcount estimates
- 30K
Houston Methodist
Healthcare - 28K
Memorial Hermann Health System
Healthcare - 27K
Houston ISD
Education - 23K
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Healthcare - 18K
H-E-B
Retail - 15K
United Airlines
Logistics - 14K
ExxonMobil
Energy - 11K
Shell
Energy - 10K
NASA Johnson Space Center
Government - 7.5K
Chevron
Energy
What the job market looks like in Houston
Less oil-dependent than outsiders think — the Texas Medical Center now rivals energy for the largest employment cluster.
If you're moving to Houston expecting oil-and-gas everything, recalibrate. The Texas Medical Center — the largest medical complex in the world — employs more than 120,000 across Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas Children's. Energy still drives the top of the wage distribution, but headcount at the majors is flat to down after a decade of consolidation. The Port of Houston, petrochemical manufacturing along the Ship Channel, and NASA round out a job base most single-industry metros would envy.
Target healthcare at every level — it's the most durable hiring engine in the metro, and the one P1 movers should treat as the safe bet. Energy majors pay the highest white-collar wages in Texas but run lean, so expect tough interviews and small hiring classes. Construction trades have steady demand thanks to LNG export terminals and petrochemical expansions along the coast. Unemployment runs slightly above the Texas average — the labour force grows faster than net job creation, so targeting specific employers beats casting a wide net.
Timing: Chevron's HQ relocation from California wraps through 2025. ExxonMobil has consolidated at the Spring campus. Cheniere's Corpus Christi expansion adds Houston-based engineering. If you're in energy-transition work — carbon capture, hydrogen, grid infrastructure — Houston is the most active US market for pilot projects, and that's the career bet the old oil patch is making. For medical-research roles, the Texas Medical Center pipeline is effectively always open.
Recent corporate moves
- 2024
ExxonMobil
RelocationCompleted corporate headquarters relocation from Irving to the Spring campus north of Houston, consolidating roughly 10,000 employees onsite.
- 2023
Chevron
RelocationAnnounced headquarters relocation from San Ramon, California to Houston, with most corporate roles shifting in phases through 2025.
- 2024
Cheniere Energy
ExpansionApproved the $6B Corpus Christi Stage III expansion with ancillary engineering and operations hiring based out of its Houston headquarters.
- 2023
Shell
LayoffsCut roughly 200 Houston-based positions in its low-carbon solutions division as part of a strategic refocus on core oil and gas.
Climate in Houston
NOAA 1991-2020 normalsDays ≥ 100°F
5
Extreme-heat days per year
Days ≥ 90°F
98
Hot days per year
Days ≤ 32°F
15
Freezing days per year
Annual precip
53"
133 rainy days/year
Climate hazards
Cfa · Humid subtropical
Hazard levels are editorial ratings aggregated from FEMA, USDA wildfire risk, NOAA storm tracks, and NWS hail climatology. Not insurance or investment advice.
What movers should expect in Houston
Hot, humid, and hurricane-prone — Houston's weather is defined less by temperature than by water.
Houston summers are relentless: June through September averages highs in the low-to-mid 90s with dewpoints routinely above 75°F, producing heat indices well over 100°F for weeks at a time. Winters are mild (January highs near 63°F) but punctuated by sudden Arctic fronts that can drop temperatures 40 degrees in a day. The defining feature, though, is rainfall. The metro averages 50+ inches a year, more than Seattle, and much of it falls in intense tropical downpours that overwhelm bayous and flat drainage.
Newcomers need to understand flood risk at a parcel level, not a city level. Huge swaths of Houston outside FEMA-mapped floodplains have flooded repeatedly — Harvey (2017) inundated roughly 136,000 structures, many of them 'low-risk.' Flood insurance is not optional even when your lender doesn't require it. Power infrastructure is a second concern: Hurricane Beryl (July 2024) cut power to 2.2+ million customers during 95°F heat, with some restorations taking two weeks. Generator ownership and tree-clearance around service drops are standard.
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, and Houston has been hit by Allison (2001), Ike (2008), Harvey (2017), and Beryl (2024) in a single generation. Insurance markets are responding: homeowners premiums in Harris County have roughly doubled over the last decade, and some carriers have pulled out of Texas coastal counties entirely. Climate change is making Gulf storms wetter and intensifying faster, which means the 500-year storm is now a 15-year storm.
Historical edge scenarios
- 2017
Hurricane Harvey — wettest U.S. cyclone on record
Harvey stalled over Houston August 25–29, 2017, dropping 40–50+ inches of rain; peak total 60.58 inches at Nederland. Harris County Flood Control estimates ~136,000 structures flooded; 500,000 vehicles destroyed. Total damage: $125 billion, Texas's costliest disaster.
- 2024
Hurricane Beryl and 2.2M-customer blackout
Beryl made landfall near Matagorda on July 8, 2024, as a Category 1. CenterPoint Energy lost service to 2.2+ million Houston-area customers — some restorations took 14+ days during 95°F heat. At least 44 deaths in Texas, with 10+ linked to post-storm outages.
- 2021
Winter Storm Uri
Uri pushed Houston temperatures to 13°F in February 2021 with three consecutive hard-freeze nights. Rolling blackouts left millions without heat; burst pipes damaged an estimated 1 in 4 Houston homes. Statewide death toll: 246+, with losses of $80–130 billion.
Neighbourhoods
On the streets of Houston
Where people actually live — from historic bungalows to new-build cul-de-sacs.
Neighbourhoods in Houston
Houston's most walkable inner-loop neighbourhoods punch above their weight for a car-centric city. Montrose is the urban standout — dense with independent restaurants, art galleries, and a mix of restored mid-century bungalows and newer townhomes, with prices in the $450K–$700K range for detached housing. The Heights (Houston Heights) delivers a more residential version of the same appeal: wide sidewalks, a hike-and-bike trail along White Oak Bayou, Craftsman bungalows on tree-lined streets, and the most consistent appreciation story among Houston inner-loop ZIP codes. Midtown and EaDo (East Downtown) are the condo and lock-and-leave plays for buyers prioritising proximity to Downtown and the Medical Center over yard space.
For families, The Woodlands in Montgomery County is the benchmark master-planned community — top-rated Conroe ISD schools, a walkable town center, and a self-contained suburban ecosystem that makes it Houston's most replicated model. Sugar Land in Fort Bend County draws families for Fort Bend ISD (consistently top-10 in Texas) and strong retail access. Katy is the west-side volume play: newer construction at Houston's most affordable price point with Katy ISD's excellent reputation holding resale values steady.
Flood risk is the unavoidable variable in Houston neighbourhood selection — buyers should run FEMA flood zone maps and claim history for any address before proceeding. The value plays: Oak Forest and Garden Oaks for inner-loop SFH under the Heights price point, Pearland (Brazoria County) for suburban affordability with solid schools south of the loop, and Acres Homes for investors seeking the highest gross yield among inner-city Houston ZIP codes.
Common questions about the Houston housing market
Is Houston a buyer's or seller's market?
Houston is currently a balanced market. With 2.8 months of housing supply and a median of 48 days on market, neither buyers nor sellers hold a decisive edge — homes sell at a steady pace without the bidding-war pressure of a tight market.
What is the median home price in Houston?
The median home listing price in Houston, TX is $359,897 as of April 2026. That figure reflects metro-area median list prices sourced from Realtor.com via FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) and is refreshed monthly.
Are home prices in Houston rising or falling?
As of April 2026, the median home price in Houston declined 2.7% over the past 12 months and rose 2.7% over the most recent month. The annual figure is still negative, but the recent monthly uptick suggests prices may be finding a floor.
How long do homes take to sell in Houston?
Homes in Houston spend a median of 48 days on market. That measures how long a typical listing stays active before going under contract — not the time it takes to close — and is consistent with a balanced market.
How many homes are for sale in Houston?
There are roughly 32,681 active listings across the Houston metro as of April 2026, equal to about 2.8 months of supply at the current sales pace. Cash buyers account for 24% of sales.
Data sources: Redfin Market Data, U.S. Census Bureau, FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), local MLS associations. Statistics represent metro-area medians and are updated monthly. Not financial or investment advice.