On the market

A stone's throw from River Oaks, this $800,000 townhouse delivers kitchen anddeck wows

With high ceilings and ample windows, the living room is bright and cheery,offering a sophisticated entertaining area.
The gated townhouse complex is centrally located, a stone's throw from RiverOaks shopping center.
This ground floor bedroom was converted to a media room with built-in wet bar.It opens to a nice-sized deck and garden.
The deck is shaded by massive oaks and provides ample space for outdoor living.
The first floor guest bedroom is a spacious, sunny room that opens to the patio.
The dining room leads down two steps to the living area.
The breakfast room, opening from the living room leads to the good-sizedkitchen, a chef's dream.
The third-floor loft overlooks the dining area and is large enough for a babygrand piano and office desk.
The master suite occupies the entire third floor where a coffee bar, walk-inclosets and good-sized bath provide all that you need.
The complex is just off of San Felipe and this corner unit enjoys its share ofopen space.

Editor's Note: Houston is loaded with must-have houses for sale in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. In this continuing series, CultureMap Editor-at-Large Shelby Hodge snoops through some of our faves and gives you the lowdown on what's hot on the market.

1901 Spann St.

Central to downtown, a stone's throw from the shopping/dining mecca of West Gray and easy access to streets leading west, this townhouse enjoys the trinity of real estate success — location, location, location. It stands on the corner of a quiet, gated complex at San Felipe and Spann, between Shepherd and Kirby.

For confirmed inner-Loopers looking for swell digs in a nice area with a price tag just under $800,000, this three-story, well-built dwelling could be the ticket.

Walk through: We don't love the tiny entry that stands in contrast to the imposing facade, but that is our only design beef with the otherwise well-planned structure. (We suggest mirroring the walls for a more open feel.)

On the ground floor, the current owners have cleverly converted one of the two bedrooms, each with full bath and walk-in closet, into an entertainment room. They added a wet bar with granite counter tops and mounted the large HDTV on the far wall thereby converting sleeping quarters into a cozy and inviting play room.

Bonuses in this space are high glass doors that open to a surprisingly spacious deck and garden area (rare in complexes of this sort), where two massive oak trees provide shade for the patio furniture and the gas grill. Perfect for outdoor entertaining or just kicking back for after-work cocktails.

The stairway leads to the open plan second floor where the dining area flows (down two steps) into a spacious living room with fireplace. On the far side, the living room opens to a breakfast area and beautifully paneled kitchen. Would-be chefs will love the space, the center island gas range and the overhead pot rack.

A laundry room and guest bath complete the plan that includes an elevator closet that extends from street level to the third floor. The addition of the vertical transport is the new owner's responsibility.

The master suite occupies the entire third floor with its demilune loft that overlooks the dining area below. The actual bedroom is large enough for a serious sitting area and includes a gas fireplace as well as banks of windows on two sides. A large, contemporary bath, a coffee bar and good-sized walk-in closets complete the third floor.

Love: The clean lines, the quality construction and rich finishes that create an appealing esthetic. Very nicely done. Plantation shutters on most windows are another rich touch.

Quiet, please: The townhouse backs up to San Felipe and you'll have to deal with a low level of traffic noise particularly during rush hour. However, if you are occupied in the house, you don't necessarily notice cars whizzing by. On the patio, the intermittent traffic din is a factor.

Square footage: 3,619

Asking price: $799,999

Listing agent: Beth Wolff, Beth Wolff Realtors

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red-hot housing

Houston boasts No. 20 hottest real estate market among big U.S. cities

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It doesn't get much hotter than the Houston housing market. A new report has ranked H-Town as the 20th best real estate market among America's biggest cities right now.

WalletHub's annual study, "Best Real Estate Markets (2026)," compares the real estate markets in 300 U.S. cities based on 17 relevant metrics, such as "housing market attractiveness," home value forecasts, housing affordability, population growth, and many others. Cities were also ranked by size: large cities with over 300,000 residents; midsize cities with 150,000-300,000 residents; and small cities with fewer than 150,000 residents.

In the overall ranking of the best housing markets in America, regardless of city size, Houston ranks 90th out of all 300 cities.

WalletHub ranks Houston's real estate market No. 102 nationally, and its "affordability and economic environment" ranks 111th overall.

This is how WalletHub ranks the "health" of Houston's housing market (where No. 1 is the best and No. 150 is average):

No. 51 – Job Growth Rate
No. 96 – Home Price as a Percentage of Income
No. 99 – Median Home-Price Appreciation
No. 128 – Foreclosure Rate
No. 159 – Share of Seriously Underwater Mortgages
No. 172 – Percentage of Delinquent Mortgage Holders
No. 173 – Median Days on the Market
No. 192 – Maintenance Costs as a Percentage of Income

Despite Houston's good standing among the biggest cities in America, a separate WalletHub report claims Houston is one of the worst cities for first-time homebuyers. Instead, Houstonians are turning to popular ZIP codes in suburbs like Cypress and Katy, which rank among the hottest places to move to in the U.S.

Other high-performing housing markets in Texas
Two popular North Texas suburbs — Frisco and McKinney — topped WalletHub's overall list of the best real estate markets in the U.S. for 2026 at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, and they locked in the top two spots in the midsize city ranking, too.

Frisco tops the nationwide "affordability and economic environment" category, and ranks No. 2 nationally for its real estate market.

"When you look at home prices as a percentage of income, [Frisco] is the 95th-cheapest among the 300 cities in our study," the report said. "But it’s the 11th-cheapest city for phone service and the 11th-cheapest for maintenance and energy."

Frisco boasts the highest share of houses that were built between 2010 and 2024, at nearly 47 percent, which WalletHub says is "good news for people who want all the benefits of a recently-constructed home," without having to "put in a lot of work" to renovate an older or run down home.

"If you aim to make a profit in the long run with your housing purchase, you’ll need to look beyond tangible factors like square footage and style," the report's author wrote. "Those factors certainly drive up property values. From an investor’s standpoint, though, they hold less significance than historical market trends and the economic health of residents."

Nearby Denton and Allen also made the overall top 10, respectively ranking as the 5th and 8th best real estate markets in the U.S. for 2026. Denton similarly ranked 5th in the midsize city rankings, and Allen topped the list of small cities.

The top 10 best real estate markets in America for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Frisco, Texas
No. 2 – McKinney, Texas
No. 3 – Murfreesboro, Tennessee
No. 4 – Durham, North Carolina
No. 5 – Denton, Texas
No. 6 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 7 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 8 – Allen, Texas
No. 9 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 10 – Irvine, California

wallethub housing market real estate reports houston