Not yet, but Texas is closer to one than it has been in years. Prices have cooled a little and homes are taking longer to sell, so buyers have more room to negotiate. The state is drifting toward balance, and some local markets lean toward buyers more than others.
Home prices across Texas have cooled a little from their peak, and buyers suddenly have more room to negotiate than they’ve had in years. For a while it was the opposite, with sellers holding all the cards, so the shift has left a lot of people scratching their heads, wondering whether to jump in or hold off. So are we heading into a buyer’s market, or not? The honest answer isn’t quite what most people expect, and it’s more useful than a simple yes or no.
Sellers held all the cards for the last few years. Now the market sits closer to the middle. That’s a real change, but a balanced market is still a long way from buyers running the show.
In the most recent statewide figures, the typical home is selling for about 2% less than it did a year ago. That’s a long way from the double-digit jumps we got used to, and it’s nowhere near a crash. Homes are sitting a little longer and buyers can catch their breath. If you’re holding out for prices to collapse so you can grab a steal, the numbers don’t point that way.
“The market you keep hearing about on the news isn’t the market you’re buying or selling in.”
One number tells you which way a market leans. It’s called months of supply. If nobody listed another home, how long would it take to sell everything that’s for sale right now?
Under four months, sellers have the edge. Four to six months is roughly even. Past six months, buyers are in charge. Nationally, we’re at about 4.9 months, so the country as a whole is closer to balanced and still short of a buyer’s market.
But the national number barely tells you anything about your street. Here in Texas, active listings are sitting at about a 5.4-month supply, a little further along toward buyers than the country as a whole, with homes taking around 65 days to sell. Even that statewide figure hides a lot. Your town, your price range, even your zip code can be leaning a completely different way. That’s the whole ballgame.
What this means for you depends on which side of the table you’re on. If you’re buying, you have more breathing room than you’ve had in years, with more homes to choose from and more time to think it over. You can ask for a better price, repairs, or better terms. You don’t have to waive every condition and pile on tens of thousands over asking just to have a shot anymore.
If you’re selling, here’s the honest reality, and it’s the part that actually protects you. The days of naming any price and getting it are done. Your home will still sell, and sell well, but only if you price it for the market you’re actually in, not for what your neighbor got two years ago.
Either way, you won’t find your answer in a national headline, and you won’t find it in whatever a website guesses your home is worth either. It’s in your local numbers, and we watch those closely for the people we work with.
If you’re trying to decide whether now’s the right time to buy or sell in Texas, start with the numbers for your own neighborhood. We’re happy to pull your local supply and recent sales and figure out what they mean for you. Call or text 888-333-4838 or visit christopherwatters.com. You’ll have real numbers in front of you before you decide anything.
