Live the dream in this new resident-focused housing community near Houston

A new real estate report confirms something Houstonians already knew: The city of Houston has seen a significant increase in housing prices among U.S. cities over the past decade, with median home prices climbing up to at 86%.

The report from online real estate database PropertyShark analyzed the median sales prices of homes in 41 of the most populous U.S. cities and towns in 2014 and 2023. According to the study, the median sales price of a home in Houston in 2014 was $142,000. A decade later, the city's median home price has nearly doubled, reaching $264,000 in 2023.

Demand for housing increased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when “millions of office workers suddenly shifted to working from home across the country” and many of the city's attractions, restaurants and events suddenly disappeared, according to the report.

Price growth in Houston has been fueled by an increase in population, a robust economy (boosted by the number of corporate headquarters), and a low unemployment rate.

Median sales prices for a home in downtown Houston increased from $324,000 in 2014 to $391,000 in 2023, according to the study's analysis of downtown-only residential transactions.

The 21% price increase over the past decade reflects a common trend that Houstonians are already familiar with: living near downtown is becoming financially unsustainable compared to other areas of the city.

Elsewhere in the country, a big trend gleaned from the study is a major slowdown in downtown residential property prices, which began during the pandemic in 2020 and has widened since. In 31 city centers out of the 41 locations analyzed, prices increased at a slower rate than in the city overall.

“As the pandemic persisted – along with remote work models, which later morphed into hybrid setups – shopping preferences shifted from city centers to more suburban areas and smaller towns,” it says. The report.

Houston didn't fit that description, but Dallas was one of nine places in the United States where city housing prices rose more than downtown prices, along with cities like Los Angeles, California, Seattle, Washington and Kansas City, Missouri.

The full report can be viewed at propertyshark.com.