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Is 78653 a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? Both, depending on price

By Chris Watters, Broker and CEO, Watters International Realty

For the ZIP as a whole, a buyer’s market. In the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, 78653 carried 7.5 months of inventory against 5.4 for the Austin metro, and our rule calls anything over 6.5 months a buyer’s market. That label is for 78653 overall, though, and a price point changes which market a homeowner is in: one $50,000 range inside this ZIP is a seller’s market and another is balanced.

Quick answer

78653 is a buyer’s market for the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, at 7.5 months of inventory against 5.4 for the Austin metro, on WIR’s rule that under 5.5 months is a seller’s market, 5.5 to 6.5 is balanced, and over 6.5 is a buyer’s market. That is the label for the ZIP overall; a price point changes which market a homeowner is in, and by $50,000 range the same 90 days show a seller’s market between $200,000 and $249,999, a balanced market between $300,000 and $349,999, and buyer’s markets in the three other ranges with enough sales to label. What changes it for you is the range your likely price falls in, and how much of that range is finished new construction.

What we analyzed

Sources: Unlock MLS (ACTRIS) via MLS Grid, WIR analysis, pulled September 9, 2026; WIR New Construction Inventory tracking.

Already know your likely price? Jump to whether this applies to your home, or run your address now.

The wider Manor story is on the Manor, TX real estate market report, and every figure on this page is tabled on the 78653 housing market report.

Last updated September 9, 2026. Sales data covers the 90 days ending September 8, 2026 (Unlock MLS via MLS Grid); listing inventory as of September 9, 2026; builder pricing and incentives read September 8, 2026.

What makes 78653 a buyer’s market right now?

Months of supply. It means: if no more homes came on the market, how long it would take to sell everything listed at the current pace. In 78653, 147 homes sold in the 90 days ending September 8, 2026 and 367 were for sale on September 9, which works out to 7.5 months. The Austin metro, on the same computation and period, sold 9,226 homes and had 16,455 for sale, which is 5.4 months.

WIR’s rule for the label is published so it can be held against us: under 5.5 months is a seller’s market, 5.5 to 6.5 is balanced, and over 6.5 is a buyer’s market. On that rule 78653 is a buyer’s market and the metro is a seller’s market. Both labels describe the whole area for the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, and neither describes any single home, because the market a homeowner is in moves with the home’s price. Chris’s standing rule sits beside the label: the right company sells faster than the average listing. His full position on the scoreboard, and every figure behind this paragraph, is on the 78653 housing market report.

Which price ranges in 78653 are buyer’s markets, and which are not?

Five ranges have enough sales in the 90 days to carry a label, and they disagree. WIR publishes a 90-day label only where a range closed at least 10 sales; where it closed fewer than 10 we use the 12 months ending September 8, 2026 and say so; where it closed fewer than 5 we publish nothing. Read every label as the label for that price range across 78653 for the period named, and not as the label for your house, since the price point decides which market a homeowner is in.

Months of inventory by $50,000 price range, 78653, 90 days ending September 8, 2026 (closings by sale price; homes for sale by list price as of September 9, 2026). Each label is for that range across 78653 for the period named, and a home’s own price sets which range, and so which market, it is in; the $450,000 to $499,999 row uses the 12 months ending September 8, 2026 because the 90 days closed fewer than 10 sales.
Price rangeHomes soldHomes for saleMonths of inventoryWIR label
$200,000 to $249,99917264.6Seller’s market
$250,000 to $299,99933756.8Buyer’s market
$300,000 to $349,99935675.7Balanced
$350,000 to $399,99933908.2Buyer’s market
$400,000 to $449,99914459.6Buyer’s market
$450,000 to $499,999 (12 months ending September 8, 2026)253818.2Buyer’s market
Source: Unlock MLS (ACTRIS) via MLS Grid, WIR analysis, pulled September 9, 2026; Label rule: under 5.5 seller’s, 5.5 to 6.5 balanced, over 6.5 buyer’s.
One ZIP, six markets: months of inventory by price range in 78653 90 days ending September 8, 2026; the $450,000 range uses the twelve months ending September 8, 2026. Labels are for the range, not any one home. 5.5 6.5 $200,000 to $249,999 4.6 months seller's market $250,000 to $299,999 6.8 months buyer's market $300,000 to $349,999 5.7 months balanced $350,000 to $399,999 8.2 months buyer's market $400,000 to $449,999 9.6 months buyer's market $450,000 to $499,999 18.2 months 12 months ending Sept 8, 2026 Source: Unlock MLS (ACTRIS) via MLS Grid, WIR analysis, pulled September 9, 2026.,
Figure 1. Bar chart of months of inventory by $50,000 price range in 78653 with reference lines at 5.5 and 6.5 months. Source: Unlock MLS (ACTRIS) via MLS Grid, WIR analysis, pulled September 9, 2026.

Down the table, the ZIP stops looking like one market. Between $200,000 and $249,999, 17 homes sold and 26 were for sale, 4.6 months, a seller’s market. Between $250,000 and $299,999 the figure is 6.8 months, a buyer’s market, and between $300,000 and $349,999, where the ZIP’s median sale price of $330,000 sits, it is 5.7 months and balanced. From $350,000 up the supply builds: 8.2 months between $350,000 and $399,999 and 9.6 between $400,000 and $449,999, both buyer’s markets. Between $450,000 and $499,999 the 90 days closed 4 sales, too few to label, so the table uses the 12 months ending September 8, 2026: 25 sales, 38 for sale, 18.2 months, a buyer’s market. Every label in this paragraph is for that range across 78653 for the period named, and a home’s own price point sets which range, and which market, it is in.

Above $420,000 taken together, 20 homes sold in the 90 days against 92 for sale, and the higher-priced and acreage side of Manor has its own page, including why no price direction is claimed there: should you sell acreage or a higher-priced home in Manor now, or wait?

Why does your price range matter more than the ZIP label?

Because the $200,000 to $249,999 range is a seller’s market sitting inside a buyer’s-market ZIP, and a homeowner who prices off the ZIP label would be reading the wrong market. Both labels are true at once: 78653 overall measured 7.5 months for the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, and the lowest range measured 4.6. Your price point decides which one applies to you. The same is true in the other direction for an owner whose likely number falls between $400,000 and $449,999, where 9.6 months describes that range for those 90 days and the ZIP figure understates what that seller faces.

The reason the ranges diverge is mostly what is for sale in each of them. Builder inventory is 4% of the homes for sale between $200,000 and $249,999 and 78% between $400,000 and $449,999, and the months of supply climb with that share. The full breakdown of who is building what at which price is on what is your Manor home competing against right now?

What does a homeowner do with a label?

Use it to set expectations for the first month, then price to the homes that sold in your range. In a range that measures as a buyer’s market for those 90 days (the range’s label, which moves with a home’s price), the homes that sold still sold at the price the buyer accepted, and in 78653 overall the homes that sold in the 90 days ending September 8, 2026 did so in a median 49 days at 94.6% of their initial asking price. The label tells you how many other homes a buyer at your price can choose from; it does not tell you that yours will take longer or fetch less. How long homes at your number are taking, and what a seller controls about that, is on how long are homes taking to sell in Manor?

The label also tells you how much room a seller has to reach. In a range under 5.5 months of supply, an opening price a little above the last sale can find its buyer. In a range at 8.2 or 9.6 months, the same reach puts your home behind a finished spec at the same number, and 190 of the 367 homes for sale in 78653 on September 9, 2026 had already cut from their original list. Knowing which range you are in starts with knowing your likely price, which is on what is your Manor home worth next to a brand-new house?

Which market is your home in?

You are likely in a seller’s or balanced market if your likely price falls between $200,000 and $249,999, which measured 4.6 months of inventory across 78653 in the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, or between $300,000 and $349,999, which measured 5.7 and where the ZIP median of $330,000 sits. Those are range labels, and your price point puts you in your own market, so a home a few thousand dollars over a line is in the next range’s market. If that is you, the fastest way to know is to run your address.

You are likely in a buyer’s market if your likely price falls between $250,000 and $299,999 at 6.8 months, between $350,000 and $399,999 at 8.2, or between $400,000 and $449,999 at 9.6, each figure being that range’s measurement across 78653 for the same 90 days and none of them a measurement of your home, whose price decides its range. You are likely in a buyer’s market on the longer period if your price falls between $450,000 and $499,999, where the 12 months ending September 8, 2026 measured 18.2 months.

Your situation

The 7.5 months is the ZIP’s number, and the table gives you your range’s number. Neither is your house’s number. That depends on where your likely price lands against the lines in the table, on how many of the homes for sale in that range are finished new construction, and on what yours offers that they do not. So the question worth answering for your own home is this: at the price it would list for, how many homes is your buyer choosing between, and how many of them are brand new?

Which market is your home actually in?

The ZIP label and the range label are starting points; the market your home is in depends on your likely price and on what is for sale at that number in your part of 78653. Give us your address and we run the process behind this page against your actual property. You get:

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No obligation. An analyst runs your address, your part of 78653, and the timeline you name. Estimates are estimates; nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome. 118 homes sold by Watters International Realty in 78653.

Chris’s take: which market you are actually in

Chris’s position, WIR positions library, approved September 9, 2026.

A ZIP-level label is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. Your price point puts you in your own market. A $300,000 home in 78653 and a $550,000 home in 78653 are not competing for the same buyers, are not facing the same inventory, and do not get the same answer.

For the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, the $200,000 to $249,999 range in 78653 measured 4.6 months of inventory, $300,000 to $349,999 measured 5.7, and $350,000 to $399,999 and $400,000 to $449,999 measured 8.2 and 9.6; $450,000 to $499,999 measured 18.2 on the 12 months ending the same day. Each is that range’s figure for that period; the price point decides which of them applies to a home.

About Watters International Realty in Manor

Watters International Realty is a Texas real estate brokerage based in Austin, with Chris Watters as broker of record. This page is written from ACTRIS data pulled through MLS Grid and analyzed by WIR on September 9, 2026, and from the WIR New Construction Inventory sheet. 118 homes sold by Watters International Realty in 78653.

Questions Manor sellers ask about buyer’s and seller’s markets

Is Manor a buyer’s market or a seller’s market at my price?

It depends on your price range, and the ranges in 78653 disagree. For the 90 days ending September 8, 2026, the ZIP overall measured 7.5 months of inventory, a buyer’s market on WIR’s rule, while $200,000 to $249,999 measured 4.6 months (a seller’s market), $300,000 to $349,999 measured 5.7 (balanced), and $250,000 to $299,999, $350,000 to $399,999 and $400,000 to $449,999 measured 6.8, 8.2 and 9.6 (buyer’s markets). Between $450,000 and $499,999 the 90 days held too few sales to label, so the 12 months ending September 8, 2026 apply: 18.2 months, a buyer’s market. Every one of those labels is for that range or for 78653 overall, and your own price point decides which market your home is in.

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No obligation. Estimates are estimates; nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome.

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Chris Watters, Broker, Watters International Realty. Texas Real Estate Commission license #567369. Broker of record for a Texas brokerage based in Austin, serving the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Killeen-Temple-Waco metros.