Is it getting harder to sell a Cottonwood Creek home in San Marcos?
Quick answer
Yes, on the recent figures. Over the last three months Cottonwood Creek homes closed at 90.7% of their original asking price, against 95.3% in the same months a year earlier. That makes it a buyer’s market for the neighborhood, and a square foot sells for less than it did.
What we analyzed
- 11 homes sold in Cottonwood Creek in the 90 days ending October 6, 2026, 34 in the twelve months ending the same day
- 13 Cottonwood Creek homes for sale as of October 7, 2026, 8 of them below their original asking price
- 4.6 months of inventory in Cottonwood Creek on the twelve-month pace, against 6.6 for San Marcos as a whole
Sources: Unlock MLS, pulled October 7, 2026. Cottonwood Creek is the MLS subdivision name, with its recorded spellings counted as one.
Selling above $1M? Part of this market never goes online
The figures on this page describe the public side of this market, the sales that were listed in the MLS. Above $1M in the Austin area, a large share of sales are never listed there and never appear online.
Those sales trade on a broker-to-broker private network, and I am a participating broker. Only the agents and brokers who do most of the business at this price point use it, and a surprising number of agents do not know it exists because they do not sell in this range. It covers homes, lots, ranches and condos priced over $1M, and much of it is waterfront or in the Austin core, West Austin, Westlake and Rollingwood, where prices run past $1.5M.
Sellers and their brokers use it for privacy: no public photos or floor plans, and no showings to buyers who have not been qualified.
Contact me for off-market private luxury listings you will never see online
72 homes sold by Watters International Realty in San Marcos. That count is every home we listed and closed in San Marcos, and it doesn’t include a single buyer we’ve represented. Everything on this page comes from the same MLS record we used to price those homes.
Homes I’ve sold in Cottonwood Creek: 1.
How San Marcos as a whole is doing is on the San Marcos, TX market report, and the town and ZIP code tables are on the 78666 housing market report.
Last updated October 7, 2026. Sales data covers the 90 days ending October 6, 2026 and the twelve months ending the same day (Unlock MLS via MLS Grid); listing inventory as of October 7, 2026.
How are Cottonwood Creek homes selling now?
Below asking, and further below than a year ago. In the last three months homes here closed at 90.7% of what their sellers first asked, against 95.3% in the same three months of last year. That puts Cottonwood Creek in a buyer’s market for the neighborhood as a whole; your price point can still put you in a different one.
The typical sale took 67 days to reach a contract. Table 1 sets the periods side by side.
Table 1. Cottonwood Creek sales in each period, from the MLS subdivision records for Cottonwood Creek in San Marcos. Each row stands on its own. A median is left out when a period has fewer than 5 sales. 13 Cottonwood Creek homes were for sale as of October 7, 2026. Source: Unlock MLS.
| Period | Sold | Median sale price | Price per square foot (median) | Median days on market | Share of original asking price | Median living area (square feet) | Median build year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days ending October 6, 2026 | 11 | $250,000 | $148 | 67 days | 90.7% | 1,739 | 2021 |
| Same 90 days a year earlier (July 9, 2025 to October 6, 2025) | 15 | $275,000 | $170 | 53 days | 95.3% | 1,662 | 2025 |
| Twelve months ending October 6, 2026 | 34 | $256,500 | $159 | 52 days | 92.6% | 1,617 | 2020 |
| Prior twelve months (October 7, 2024 to October 6, 2025) | 57 | $280,000 | $170 | 60 days | 94.9% | 1,676 | 2024 |
Are Cottonwood Creek prices going down?
Yes. A square foot sold for $159 over the past twelve months, against $170 the year before.
The typical sale price fell from $280,000 to $256,500 across the same two years, and the homes that sold were only a little smaller, so most of that is a real drop in what buyers paid. Fewer homes sold, too. Over the past twelve months 15 listings here failed to sell, meaning they expired or were withdrawn before a buyer closed.
Who else is selling in Cottonwood Creek?
Mostly other owners, with a builder still in the mix. Starlight Homes has a few new homes for sale here and Century Communities has one, and new builds were about a quarter of the sales over the past twelve months.
Table 2. Builders with new homes in Cottonwood Creek, as of October 7, 2026: 5 new-build listings for sale. Builder names come from the MLS record and our builder inventory; presence only. Source: Unlock MLS.
| Builder | New homes for sale |
|---|---|
| Starlight Homes | 4 |
| Century Communities | 1 |
The rest of the competition is resale, and most of the homes for sale have cut their price. The typical house that sold was built around 2020, so a buyer is weighing a few-years-old home against a brand-new one at a similar price. Size-adjusted, price per foot is the fair way to line them up.
The one range with enough sales to read, the $250,000s, is in Table 3.
Table 3. Cottonwood Creek homes by price range, twelve months ending October 6, 2026; homes for sale as of October 7, 2026. A range is a seller’s market when homes sold for at least 97% of their original asking price, balanced from 94% to 97%, and a buyer’s market below 94%. Only price ranges with at least 10 sales in the twelve months are shown. Source: Unlock MLS.
| Price range | Sold | Median sale price | For sale | New builds for sale | Homes that cut their price | Months of supply | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 to $299,999 | 26 | $256,500 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 3.2 | buyer’s market |
How new construction stacks up across San Marcos is on How many new builds is your San Marcos home up against?
Sell now, or wait?
Sell now if you will set the asking price based on this year’s closed sales, not last year’s, and if the house is ready to show. A home that is priced right still has a buyer here; the ones that held out for last year’s price per foot are the ones that cut or came off the market.
Waiting makes sense if you have no reason to move soon and can ride out a buyer’s market, which is the reading for the neighborhood as a whole and may differ at your price. If a few repairs are what’s holding you back, our Watters Ready-Fund can cover up to $50,000 of that work, repaid at closing. What your home might bring is covered on What is your San Marcos home worth when new builds sell for less?
Your situation
If you own in Cottonwood Creek, a buyer is comparing your home with a Starlight new build and a handful of resales that have already cut. Where you land depends on your price per foot against those, and on how move-in ready your home is.
We look at your address and walk the house before any pricing talk.
Before You Put Your Home on the Market, See the Homes You’ll Have to Beat
In Cottonwood Creek a builder is still listing beside the resales, and the neighborhood numbers can’t say how your home compares with either. Request my complimentary Home Competitor Analysis for your address. You get:
- The Cottonwood Creek homes for sale a buyer would tour with yours
- Which are new builds and which are resales that have cut
- How the walkthrough works and what we look at in your home
No obligation. The report for your part of San Marcos arrives within a minute; the pricing analysis comes after we walk the home. Nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome. 72 homes sold by Watters International Realty in San Marcos (Unlock MLS, all time).
What am I seeing in Cottonwood Creek?
Chris Watters’s prior position, stated September 27, 2026; not confirmed for this page. I do not forecast prices; the figures on this page are one period’s measurements.
After price reductions, homes sell close to the reduced price; sellers lose the money in the time spent at the first price.
In Cottonwood Creek most of the homes for sale have reduced their price already, and buyers are paying less per foot than last year. My reading is that the sellers starting from this year’s sales are the ones who skip the reductions, and the coming-soon stage puts the home in front of 4,000 cash buyers in my black book, not counting buyers using traditional financing.
About Watters International Realty in San Marcos
Watters International Realty is a Texas real estate brokerage, and I am its broker of record. This page is based on Unlock MLS data analyzed on October 7, 2026. 72 homes sold by Watters International Realty in San Marcos (Unlock MLS, all time).
Questions San Marcos sellers ask about selling in Cottonwood Creek
How long does it take to sell in Cottonwood Creek?
Over the last three months the typical home took 67 days to go under contract.
Is Cottonwood Creek a buyer’s market?
Over the last three months, yes, for the neighborhood as a whole: homes closed at 90.7% of original asking. Your price and your home’s condition can put you in a different market.
Are builders still selling in Cottonwood Creek?
Yes. Starlight Homes and Century Communities have new homes for sale there today.
See the homes you’d be competing against
You get the Cottonwood Creek homes a buyer would compare with yours and a walkthrough before any pricing talk.
Contact me for off-market private luxury listings you will never see online.
No obligation. The report arrives within a minute; the pricing analysis comes after we walk the home. Nothing here promises a price, a timeline, or an outcome.
More for San Marcos sellers
- San Marcos, TX real estate market report: what homeowners need to know before selling
- 78666 housing market report: the numbers behind the San Marcos market
- Should you sell your San Marcos home now, or wait?
- What is your San Marcos home competing against right now?
- Why aren’t homes selling in San Marcos?
- What is your San Marcos home worth next to a brand-new house?
- Selling in River Bridge Ranch, San Marcos, while the builder keeps listing?
- Why are Kissing Tree homes in San Marcos taking so long to sell?
- What is a La Cima resale in San Marcos up against right now?
- Why do so many Blanco Vista listings in San Marcos take months to sell?
- The Austin seller hub
