Update on Texas Housing Market Inventory in Early 2025

Texas housing market inventory has been tight for a few years now, and by now we all know the main reason for this trend.

The pandemic led to a surge in home-buying activity, particularly in relocation hotspots like Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. This trend depleted the available supply, pushing real estate inventory to record-low levels and challenging home buyers like never before.

Now, as we move into 2025, housing market inventory in Texas has increased. Home buyers have more properties to choose from, and more negotiating leverage than in recent years.

Here are five of the key trends covered in this report:

All major housing markets in Texas gained inventory during 2024.
Texas real estate market inventory has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, home buyers will have more properties to consider in 2025.
Buyers could also enjoy a bit more negotiating leverage than past years.
Texas Housing Weekly can keep you up to speed on all of these trends.

Texas Housing Market Inventory in Early 2025

Housing market supply in Texas has improved steadily since the pandemic-fueled depletion mentioned above. With more inventory available in 2025, home buyers across the Lone Star State have a greater chance for success.

The latest evidence comes from a recent update published by Realtor.com.

In January, Realtor.com shared the latest housing data for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The report included four Texas metros: Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

According to this source, the total number of active real estate listings (e.g., homes for sale) has increased over the past year, in all of Texas’s major metro areas.

Here are the year-over-year increases in total listings, by metro:

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown: +13.0%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington: +31.1%
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land: +24.5%
San Antonio-New Braunfels: +16.1%

Forecasts suggest that housing market inventory could increase further in 2025, especially if mortgage rates decline as expected.

Graph: Months of Supply Over the Past 10 Years

The following graph shows the “months of supply” for the state of Texas dating back ten years or so. It’s based on data provided by the national real estate brokerage Redfin.

Two things will jump out at you from this graph:

You can see where supply levels plummeted during the pandemic years.
You can also see how market inventory has largely recovered since then.

In early 2025, most local housing markets across Texas have just as much inventory as they did before the pandemic, and some cities have even more than before.

The Austin metro area, for example, has a lot more properties for sale in early 2025 than it did from 2017 to 2021. And this has shifted the market to favor buyers for a change.

It’s also noteworthy that many Texas cities have more supply than the national average, as of January 2025. That puts home buyers in a good position, a dynamic that will likely persist for the foreseeable future.

The takeaway: Across much of Texas, housing inventory levels have returned to where they were before the deep plunge shown in the graph.

Inventory Has Been Growing for a While Now

The supply growth trend explained above has been going on for some time now. For instance, a report from Texas REALTORS published back in fall 2024 stated the following:

“Months of inventory, or how long it would take the existing homes on the market to sell at the current rate of sales, was 4.8 statewide, which is an increase from 3.6 months during the same period last year. Four to five months of inventory generally indicates a market balanced between supply and demand … Every metro area reported a rise in months of inventory.”

Looking forward, some economists believe that housing market supply levels could continue to increase throughout 2025, giving home buyers an added advantage.

Here’s a recent prediction issued by researchers at Realtor.com:

“Growth in inventory with single family home starts is expected to grow 13.8% [in 2025] and existing for-sale home inventory is expected to grow by 11.7%…”

Realtor.com believes that steady supply growth will create the first “balanced” real estate market we’ve had in nine years. This means that Texas home buyers could have increased bargaining power and more property options in the months ahead.

How It’s Affecting Home Prices

By monitoring home price trends at the city and metro level, we’ve discovered an interesting (yet logical) correlation:

Areas with housing inventory that’s back up to pre-pandemic levels have had slower (or negative) home price growth over the last three years.
Areas with housing inventory that’s still significantly below pre-pandemic levels have generally seen stronger price growth in the same period.

As mentioned, most local real estate markets across Texas currently have just as much supply as they did before the pandemic home buying frenzy—if not more.

Because of this supply growth, Texas house prices remained mostly flat during 2024 and aren’t expected to rise much in 2025 either. The latest forecasts suggest that the statewide median home value might only rise by 0.5% to 1% in 2025, or even remain flat in some cities.

The Austin metro area is expected to have a slight drop in prices this year, continuing a downward trend that’s been going on since the summer of 2022.

The takeaway: Inventory growth in Texas has shifted the housing market dynamic and reduced the upward pressure on home prices, resulting in little to no price growth.

What It All Means for Texas Home Buyers

Supply gains over the past couple of years have made the Texas real estate market a lot more buyer-friendly. This provides a number of advantages.

Here are some ways that home buyers could benefit from inventory growth:

More choices: In 2025, buyers have a wider selection of properties to choose from in terms of size, style, location, and price.
Less competition: With more homes on the market, there are fewer bidding wars and less pressure to offer above the asking price.
More negotiating power: Buyers have more leverage to negotiate on price, repairs, and other terms of the sale.
Slower price appreciation: Increased supply can moderate or even decrease home price growth, making houses more affordable.
More time to decide: Buyers can take their time to find the right home without feeling rushed by limited inventory.
Use of contingencies: Buyers can more easily include contingencies in their offers (like financing or inspection contingencies) which protect them if issues arise.

But despite these positive developments, home buyers should also realize that real estate conditions can vary from one city, community, or neighborhood to the next.

The best way to make a strong offer on a home is by researching recent sale prices in the area where you plan to buy, while considering any unique features of the property itself. Even in a buyer-friendly real estate market, a low-ball offer could work against you.

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Brandon Cornett

Brandon Cornett is a veteran real estate market analyst, reporter, and creator of the Home Buying Institute. He has been covering the U.S. real estate market for more than 15 years. About the author