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Here's where Houston ranks as a top U.S. housing market in 2021, according to experts

Real-estate experts say Austin will be the top housing market in the U.S. in 2021.

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In news that is likely to surprise no one, experts say Houston will be one of the nation's hottest housing markets.

According to the Q4 2020 Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, real-estate experts, economists, and investment strategists say Houston will outperform the national housing market. The report, which was conducted by independent research company Pulsenomics, includes predictions about home-value growth in the largest 20 U.S. markets in 2021.

Houston ranked 12th overall, with 32 percent of experts saying the Bayou City will outperform the national average.

Also hardly surprising, Austin topped the survey as the No. 1 destination in 2021. Experts had previously predicted Austin’s housing market would be the hottest in 2020. By mid-December, when the median list price for homes in the Austin metro area had risen year-over-year by more than 23 percent — the biggest increase among the 50 largest U.S. markets — it was clear the Capital City would outpace all other large markets in 2020, according to the report.

Driving the housing growth in Austin are a number of factors, among them the seemingly immense exodus of tech companies and workers from the West Coast to Central Texas. This presumption is supported by the Zillow report, which notes San Francisco and Los Angeles land at the bottom of the 20-city list in terms of predicted housing growth this year, alongside New York City.

Even the New York Times recently noted the massive influx of techie San Franciscans moving to Central Texas, claiming Austin is their No. 1 relocation spot, with the paper saying it is the Texas city closest in spirit to the Bay Area and calling out recent news of growth in the local tech industry from such big-name players as Apple, Amazon, and Tesla.

The Zillow report notes another reason Austin’s housing market is the hottest is because, well, it’s hot here. In fact, it is mostly Sun Belt cities, including Austin, Phoenix, Tampa, and Nashville, that are expected to outperform the nation’s housing growth in 2021.

“These Sun Belt destinations are migration magnets thanks to relatively affordable, family-sized homes, booming economies, and sunny weather,” Jeff Tucker, a Zillow senior economist, said in a release. “Record-low mortgage rates and the increased demand for living space, coupled with a surge of millennials buying their first homes, will keep the pressure on home prices there for the foreseeable future.”

Meanwhile, Dallas-Fort Worth claimed the No. 6 spot, with 54 percent of real-estate experts saying the area will outperform the national home-value-growth average.

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rent report

Here's how much Houston rent prices have dropped since last year

Photo by Datingscout on Unsplash

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Rent prices are falling statewide, and Houston's have declined more than nearly all other major cities in Texas, according to a new national rent report from Zumper. Houston also has the fourth-cheapest rents in Texas.

The Zumper National Rent Report tracked year-over-year and month-over-month rent price changes in 100 U.S. cities for both one- and two-bedroom units using the most recent data available from May 2026.

Rent prices for one-bedroom units in Houston have dipped 9.6 percent year-over-year, to $1,130, which is the second-steepest decline in Texas. Two-bedroom rents have dropped nearly 5 percent from last year to $1,430.

The report also revealed that four of the 10 U.S. metros offering the most concessions are located in Texas. Austin leads nationally with more than a third of rental units "dangling incentives to fill space," followed by San Antonio and Houston. A separate rent report from real estate data firm CoStar found Houston had the fourth highest apartment vacancy rate in the U.S. in March, meaning residents may be able to save on their rent depending on the financial incentives offered by landlords.

Additionally, these same markets offering generous rent concessions are also among the 10 U.S. metros with the largest population growth, which Zumper says signals ongoing tension between tenants and their landlords regarding prices.

"So while Texas absorbed a significant share of the 2023-2025 supply wave, inventory still has to lease up before landlords regain pricing power, and the steady inflow of new residents says the demand is there," the report stated. "It’s just a question of when supply stops outrunning it."

From 2023 to 2024, Texas gained nearly 73,000 net new renters, making it the No. 1 magnet for renters nationwide.

Rent prices elsewhere in Texas
San Antonio saw the steepest drop in rent prices statewide, with one-bedroom rents falling by 10.4 percent to $950. Two-bedroom units have declined 6 percent year-over-year to $1,250.

Arlington was the only major Texas city where rent prices increased from May 2025 to May 2026. One-bedroom rent increased nearly 3 percent to $1,090, and two-bedroom rent increased 2.1 percent to $1,480.

Zumper annual rent changes in Texas cities Zumper

These are the rent prices for other Texas cities in May 2026:

Austin: $1,420 for one-bedroom units; $1,860 for two-bedroom units
Dallas: $1,350 for one bedroom; $1,900 for two bedrooms
El Paso: $810 for one bedroom; $1,130 for two bedrooms
Fort Worth: $1,240 for one bedroom; $1,560 for two bedrooms
Irving: $1,280 for one bedroom; $1,610 for two bedrooms
Plano: $1,360 for one bedroom; $1,900 for two bedrooms

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