Houston Homebuyers Are Gaining Purchasing Power: What HAR’s Latest Numbers Mean for Pearland

The Houston Association of Realtors released its Housing and Rental Affordability Report for the second quarter of 2026 this week, and the headline is good news for buyers: purchasing power in the Greater Houston area is continuing to improve. That builds on a trend that was already showing up in the numbers earlier this year, and it lines up with what we’ve been seeing in the Pearland market day to day.

In the first quarter of 2026, 42 percent of Houston-area households could afford the median-priced home, up from 37 percent a year earlier. The median home price had eased to $331,500, down 1.7 percent year over year, and the income needed to qualify for that median home dropped about 7 percent, to roughly $96,000. A typical monthly payment, including taxes and insurance, came in around $2,400, compared with $2,580 the year before. HAR’s newest report shows that trend carrying into the second quarter, with buyers picking up even more room to negotiate.

The most recent monthly sales data backs this up. In June, single-family home sales across the Houston area rose 3.5 percent year over year to 8,820 homes, while the median price held essentially flat at $345,000. Active listings climbed to nearly 39,000, pushing inventory up to 5.2 months, and the average home stayed on the market 52 days before going under contract. HAR’s leadership described the market as balanced, with sellers who price realistically still finding buyers quickly, while overpriced listings sit longer than they did two years ago.

For buyers, this is a real shift. More inventory means more choices and less pressure to waive inspections or bid over asking just to compete. For sellers, it means pricing has to reflect where the market actually is right now, not where it was during the frenzy of a few years ago. Pearland tends to track the broader Houston trend closely, with the added pull of new construction in communities like Shadow Creek Ranch and Silverlake keeping local inventory active.

If you’re trying to figure out what any of this means for your specific situation, whether you’re buying your first home or deciding if now is the right time to sell, our team at CENTURY 21 Tevas can walk through the local numbers with you.

Equal Housing Opportunity. CENTURY 21 Tevas, 2505 S Park Ave, Suite B, Pearland, TX 77581. Broker License (TREC) #694210. Firm License (TREC) #9012066.