08/17/2026
🏡 5 things Texas homeowners should know right now. ℹ️
Texas A&M’s Real Estate Research Center recently released its Summer 2026 Tierra Grande, focused heavily on housing affordability. I nerded out and read through it so you don’t have to. 🤓
Here are 5 things that jumped out at me:
1️⃣ Texas home prices are still 31% higher than they were just six years ago.
Prices have softened recently, but most of the huge run-up since 2020 hasn’t disappeared.
2️⃣ Your insurance bill is becoming a major part of housing affordability.
This one fires me up the most. Homeowners insurance has risen dramatically, meaning the mortgage rate and sales price are no longer enough to tell you whether a house is actually affordable.
3️⃣ Your property value can rise 5% while your taxable value rises 10%. 😳
Texas’ homestead appraisal cap can create a “catch-up” effect. If your taxable value was previously held below market value by the cap, it can keep increasing even after the market cools.
4️⃣ Texas property tax rates have actually been falling.
The statewide effective property tax rate declined about 22% from 2019 to 2025, helped by larger homestead exemptions and school tax-rate compression. Rising property values are a big reason many homeowners haven’t felt that reduction.
5️⃣ Owning a home currently consumes a much larger share of income than renting in Texas.
Texas A&M found typical apartment rent consumes less than 20% of median household income, a single-family rental about 25%, while homeownership costs a third or more once mortgage, taxes and insurance are included.
None of this means “buying is bad” or “renting is better.” It shows how much the math has changed — and why I think we need to stop talking about housing affordability as if the sales price is the only number that matters.
💬 Which one surprised you? Drop the number below. If you have a question about how any of these affect your home, taxes, insurance or a future move, ask away.
Source: Texas A&M Texas Real Estate Research Center, Tierra Grande, Summer 2026.
